The Wind Shadow of Fairy Tail
by HokagenoNaruto
Summary: A new world, new friends, new enemies, new powers and a chance at peace are all for his taking. Thrust into a new world after the battle with Pein, Naruto will take it by storm. Join his journey, the journey of the Wind Shadow. Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be an even rougher ride from here on out.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

"**Demon/Summon Speaking**"

'**Demon Thinking**'

"Ero-Sennin believed in me. So, I will believe in what Ero-Sennin believed in."

Nagato stared at Naruto, as if trying to register his words. "So you'll believe in what Jiraiya Sensei believed in. If that's the case, then what do we do?! Sit here and wait for you to bring peace?! Give me a break! How can I believe in Jiraiya-sensei now? As long as we live in this accursed world, there will be no real peace!"

"Then…I will break that curse. I there is such a thing as peace, I WILL find it. I will never give up!"

TIME SKIP

Naruto stumbled along the path to Konoha. He was exhausted. Fighting Nagato and almost releasing the Kyuubi had worn out even him. 'Damn. I can't walk any further. I'll just close my eyes for a second. Yeah, that's right. Just a sec…'

"What the hell is that?!" Naruto shouted, cutting off his own thoughts. He was freaking out, and for good reason. Malevolent, orange chakra was filtering out of him going towards a hole-yes a HOLE- in the sky. Slowly however, his own chakra began slipping from his grasp. 'Crap! Not good! NOT GOOD!' He tried to hold on, to pull it back to himself, but it was a losing battle. He was too exhausted to do anything but slow it down a little. It was then that he had a genius idea that most likely had changed the fate of the world. Maybe if he hadn't, Kakashi would have been able to reach him in time to cut off his chakra flow. And maybe, he wouldn't have sped up the process of the mysterious hole. And maybe, he wouldn't have sent himself to Earthland. But he did have an idea. And he DID execute it.

Slowly stilling himself, and letting go of his chakra, he began to gather natural energy in an attempt to regain his strength and pull back the chakra. And for whatever reason, the hole stopped absorbing his chakra and started absorbing the natural energy instead. Naruto let out a sigh of relief as the hole finally absorbed the natural energy and halted its earlier chakra absorbing. It was all for naught, as the hole only gained strength and continued absorbing his chakra.

Two seconds. That's how long it took for all his chakra to be absorbed. And that's how long it took for Uzumaki Naruto, Hero of Konoha and Child of Prophecy to forever disappear from the Elemental Nations.

**-Scene-**

"What hit me?" Was Naruto's first thought as he eased himself off the ground. Opening his eyes, he immediately closed them at the glaring brightness. Forcing himself to open his eyes, he tried to remember exactly what had happened. All he remembered was fighting Pain then… As if some mental barrier had been broken, his thoughts came rushing back to him. He remembered fighting Pain and winning and then, the hole in the sky. He remembered being sucked into the swirling madness that brought him here and then darkness. Looking around, he saw himself to be in a forest much different from the one where he was just at.

"Where the hell am I? Is this another one of Akatsuki's tricks?" He thought out loud. Slowly picking himself off the ground, Naruto grunted as he felt his body scream in protest. Taking out a kunai from his pouch, he readied himself for a fight. Stilling himself, he brought himself into Sage Mode to sense possible hidden enemies. A few minutes had passed and there was still no sign of Akatsuki, or any enemies for that matter.

'If this isn't Akatsuki's doing, then how did I get here? The thing looked a lot like Kakashi-Sensei's technique…What was it called again? Oh yeah! Kamui? But…It felt different…It didn't feel like Kakashi-Sensei's' Naruto thought to himself. "May as well see where the hell I am…" Naruto decided. Glancing up at the sun, he determined it was still early morning. Gathering natural energy once again, he stretched out his senses to the max to find any signs of life. Feeling a lot of energy gathering towards the south, he decided it would be his best bet to find out where he was. Taking a step forward, he immediately dropped in exhaustion.

"Damn I forgot I was so tired. May as well sleep it off." He muttered, irritated. Creating a few shadow clones to keep watch, he allowed sleep to take him.

**-Scene-**

When Naruto finally woke up, it was around mid-afternoon. Yawning loudly, he got up and stretched. "I guess I'll go and check out exactly where that chakra was coming from." Turning around, he began walking in the general direction of the energy. As he walked, he mulled over the possibilities of what could have happened.

"If I remember it right, Kakashi-Sensei's Kamui is a space-time ninjutsu that transports things to a different…dimension. The hole in the sky…It felt like Kamui…" Naruto groaned. "If what I'm thinking is right then I could be in a totally different dimension." Now when Naruto said this, he himself didn't immediately register EXACTLY what he had said. After 2 minutes, it clicked in his head. "Wait…Different…Dimension…OH SHIT! How the hell am I gonna get back to Konoha?! How am I gonna be Hokage?! How am I gonna beat Akatsuki?!" Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Wait, Akatsuki. That's it! COME OUT AKATSUKI! I KNOW THIS IS A GENJUTSU! BRING IT ON YOU BASTARDS! I'LL FIGHT YOU ALL!" Naruto screamed to no one in particular.

By now, a few moments had passed and there was still no sign of Akatsuki. 'Damn. Either they're really enjoying me freaking out or I really am in another dimension.' Naruto shook his head. 'Whatever. I need information, and the best way would be to get to that place with lots of chakra. It's probably a town or village judging from the amount of energy radiating off the place.' With this thought in mind, Naruto began his trek to the mysterious place.

A few hours of walking later, Naruto could feel himself getting closer. As he did, he couldn't help but notice the chakra coming from the energy source felt different, more potent and closer to natural energy rather than regular chakra. 'I wonder why?' He mused to himself.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice a sign reading 'Magnolia Town' in front of him, causing him to collide into a wooden pole. "Ow!" He exclaimed out, rubbing his forehead. Looking past the sign, he saw a rather large city that appeared to be bigger than Konoha. "Woah. This place is huge." He muttered with wide eyes. "Now where should I go to first?" He thought to himself.

"Need some help, lad?" A voice called from behind him. It took all of his self-control to not jump and take down whoever had spoken to him. Behind him was what appeared to be a sailor, dressed in baggy white pants with a red shirt, complete with a heavy black overcoat.

"Ah actually I do. Could you tell me where I am?" Naruto asked of the man.

"Sure lad. Yer in Magnolia Town right now. The names Bert by the way. Anything else you need?" The newly dubbed Bert answered. Naruto considered what he could ask the man next. 'I need to make sure I don't sound too suspicious. At least something from the academy is useful. I might as well ask him where all the energy is coming from so I don't accidently stumble into Akatsuki's base if it is them behind all this.'

"Actually yeah. I keep sensing a large concentration of energy from somewhere in town. Can you tell me what it is?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Ya must not be from around here lad. Everyone knows that this is the town that the famous Guild Fairy Tail is in. It's a pretty big place." Bert answered. Naruto blinked. 'What the hell is a Guild?'

Outwardly, he merely shook his head. "I'm sorry I don't know what a Guild is." In response to his statement, the man blinked owlishly. "How do ya not know what a Guild is lad? But to answer your question, I suppose a Guild would be a place where mages gather to perform jobs." Bert answered gruffly.

As he spoke, Naruto's mind was racing. 'Guilds? Sounds almost like hidden villages. But mages? What the hell? Magic is for freaking kids! But I guess civilians do think that chakra is kinda like magic. But… He could be telling the truth about this magic thing. I need to do some more research. At the…library…' Naruto groaned to himself. He hated the library. It was so depressing and quiet. Mentally steeling himself, he prepared for his impossible task.

"Oh! In my hometown we just called them by a different name. Anyway, could you tell me where the library is?" Naruto said. The man chuckled. "No problem lad. Just go straight and then take a right at the second turn and follow the path. It should take you there. Fer a second there I thought you really didn't know what Guilds were. Funny, eh?"

Naruto chuckled as well, though his was far more nervous sounding. "Yeah… Funny." After his statement he practically bolted from the man, yelling a quick 'thank you' on the way. 'Alright. I really need to figure out what the hell is going on.'

Arriving at the steps of the library, he couldn`t help but marvel at the size of the building. He would say it was almost as big, or even bigger than the Hokage Tower. Going inside, he was immediately greeted by the librarian. "Hi! How may I help you?" The librarian asked pleasantly. Naruto gave her a grin in response.

"Hey. Could you give me some books on Guilds and magic?"

"No problem! Just second." A few minutes later, Naruto was sitting at the various desks in the library with 3 books in front of him. Pausing a moment to read the titles, he decided to pick the one about what magic was. "Magic for Dummies, huh? This should be interesting." Naruto muttered to himself before beginning to read the book, albeit a bit reluctantly.

The more he read however, the more interested he grew in this new form of energy. 'Magic is the physical embodiment of the spirit. When the physical spirit of an organism connects with the spiritual flow of nature, the spirit forms Magic as a product of the connection. Only ten percent of the world's population is able to use magic, which is noted to keep a balance between ordinary people and magic users. It takes an enormous amount of concentration and mental ability to use magic. Mages can learn multiple styles of magic, but it is noteworthy that many Mages have natural affinities for their own Magic. Magic itself has been around for centuries. Every type of magic comes from The One Magic, the original source of all types of magic. Magic was once oppressed and feared, but gradually became an everyday phenomenon.'

Mentally he was going through what he had just read. 'So Magic is like chakra, except it's only the physical part of it. And they connect with the flow of nature. So THAT'S why the energy I was feeling felt a lot like natural energy. Only ten percent is able to use magic, so I guess it's different from chakra in that aspect.' Naruto paused. 'This One Magic… I wonder where it came from…'

Now finished with his reading, he returned the books and left the library. Deciding he needed to clear his head and think for a bit, Naruto began moving towards a forested area, where he sensed little people.

Arriving to his destination of choice, Naruto sat down and considered his next plan of action. "I still don't understand what's going on. From all this, it seems like I really am in another dimension. But what was that swirling hole that brought me here? And how. I need more information, but I don't think going to the library again will be a very good idea. People will surely begin to notice. And the library is the best place to get information, other than a Magic guild itself.' He paused a moment to consider the idea. 'But then I'll need a cover story and a disguise. I'll have to make sure I refer to my jutsu as magic as well. Harder said than done cause I don't even know how magic is casted in the first place…I'll probably be winging it with the magic, and I suppose I can pull a Kakashi if they ask me to tell about myself. I'll say I'm from some random village in the south that got destroyed by a really powerful mage, and that I was the only one who escaped or something. It technically isn't a lie, since that is what happened to Konoha.' Naruto took a deep breath.

"So many things can go wrong if I mess up." A slightly feral grin appeared on his face. "Sound like fun." His resolve set, Naruto got up and walked determined towards Fairy Tail

**-End-**

**Author's Notes**

**Alright! I'm done chapter one. Now this is a re-upload of chapter 1. If any of you read the first story (Kazekage of Fairy Tail), you'd have noticed it was much longer, over 6k words. This story is much shorter than that one, and probably will only reach 6k after the third chapter. The original was called Kazekage of Fairy Tail, and honestly, it was pretty bad. It was too fast paced, and I did rush things a bit. Also, there were some complaints that too many unbelievable things happened, and that is true. I did make Naruto more trusting than he should have and probably more rushed. This was slightly slower in that Naruto actually took some time to do research and asked around. Naruto is going to Fairy Tail to find some more information about the different dimensions and magic in general and possible ways to get back to the Elemental Nations. Also, he DOES need money. Before arguments that Naruto can live off the land arise, there is also the fact that people will be bound to see him or at least get suspicious of him training at times, and then he won't be able to do research as freely. There were also some problems with paragraph format that I tried to fix. Kazekage of Fairy Tail is still up for comparisons to see if this is better or worse. Other chapters should be here soon. **

**Review and enjoy.**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

"**Demon/Summon Speaking**"

'**Demon Thinking**'

Naruto gazed up at the guild building for Fairy Tail as he stood in front of the gates. The building itself appeared to be three stories, and otherwise not very appealing to the eye at first glance. If it had not had the massive Fairy Tail sign at the front, most probably would have ignored it after a quick glance.

Dismissing himself of his thoughts, he reminded himself why he was here in the first place.

'Let's get this over and done with.' Naruto thought as he placed a hand on the doors to Fairy Tail, before pushing them open. As soon as he did, he came across a very peculiar scene. The guild members were scattered around the guild hall fighting one another and there was various objects flying around, from mugs to shoes to- 'What the hell?! Is that underwear?!'- And underwear.

The members appeared not to have noticed him as they continued to fight. Though it did seem they were having tons of fun, especially the pink haired boy near the middle of the hall. Naruto squinted his eyes to make sure that his eyes weren't betraying him. 'Is that Sakura's brother or something?'

He was so engrossed he was in looking at the pink haired boy and trying to figure out if he was a distant relative or Sakura or not, that he didn't notice a person walking up to him.

"Hi! How may I help you?" A voice called. Naruto almost jumped a few feet in the air and attacked whoever had snuck up on him. Instead he opted to simply turn his head to see who it was. Standing beside him was a silver haired girl wearing a red dress and giving him a cheerful smile.

Flashing her one of his foxy grins, he raised a hand in greeting. "Hi. I was wondering if I could…well join Fairy Tail?" Mentally he slapped himself. He had sounded so meek near the end. Not the best first impression. However, the girl either didn't notice or simply didn't care.

"Well, if you want to join you'll have to talk to the master. He isn't here right now, but he should be arriving very soon." The girl said. Naruto nodded his acceptance.

"Alright." Glancing towards the still fighting members, he grew a large sweat drop on his head. The pink haired from earlier was being swung around almost comically by a very large silver haired man. Idly he noted that his hair colour was similar to the girl in front of him. 'Probably siblings.' He thought.

"Is it fine to leave them like that?" He asked, his sweat drop only growing larger as he continued to watch. The girl however just smiled at his question as if her guild members were not fighting and beating the living daylights out of each other.

"It's fine. It happens all the time. The master will break them up soon." The girl paused. "I'm sorry! How rude of me. I still haven't introduced myself. My name is Mirajane." The girl finished as she extended a delicate hand.

"My name is Naruto. It's nice to meet you." Naruto said as he took her hand. Before Naruto could say more, a loud voice boomed out.

**"STOP FIGHTING YOU IDIOTS!"**

Naruto spun around to see the source of the voice and what he saw was something he was certainly NOT expecting. In front of him was a giant, black coloured humanoid form. Looking around he noticed the entire guild had frozen while looking at the giant figure. Naruto got into a vague fighting stance and tensed himself in case of a fight. He grimaced. He didn't really know these people, but if the giant attacked in this small space, it would bring the whole building down on top of them. Naruto was in for another surprise when the guild members, instead of being scared or getting ready for a fight, simply screamed out as one.

"MASTER!"

Apparently Sakura's sibling still hadn't noticed the lack of fighting or the guild members yelling. He was still standing with his back to the giant laughing maniacally. "HAHAHAHAHA-" That is until the giant literally stepped on him. Naruto fought back a wince.

'That has got to hurt.' Naruto was also thinking something along the lines of blowing up the giant with some exploding tags and making a break or it. However, a few things stopped him.

1. No one seemed concerned that a guild member might have died

2. They had cried 'Master' so he might be safe

3. The giant was now no longer a giant, and was in fact a roughly 3 foot tall old man wearing some of the most ridiculous outfits he had ever seen.

Naruto just stared, and stared some more. Then blinked. '...What the hell?' And that pretty much summed up his entire thought process.

"YOU FOOLS! WE HAVE A GUEST! AT LEAST STOP DESTROYING THE GUILD UNTIL WE SEE WHAT HE WANTS!" The guild master yelled out, before wheezing slightly.

Naruto only continued to sweat drop. 'He doesn't even care that they were fighting or his guild getting destroyed does he? Oh well, at least I can talk to the Master about joining now.'

As soon as the old man had finished his statement, he noticed all the eyes of the guild members were now on him. The old man walked up to him, and extended his hand.

"My name's Makarov Dreyar. I'm the guild master here at Fairy Tail. Is there anything you want?" The man, Makarov, introduced himself. Naruto shook himself mentally before taking the guild master's hand.

"My name is Naruto. I want to join your guild." Naruto said, hoping that any tests he would have to do would be easy.

"Ok." The old man said, smiling kindly. Naruto almost fell over in shock. Key word was almost. He was still a shinobi so he managed to keep him self upright. Staring at the man suspiciously, Naruto finally spoke.

"That's it? You'll just accept me like that? What about some hard ass written test that you have to do?" Naruto said, almost hysterically.

The guildmaster just looked at him before chuckling. The chuckle slowly became a full blown laugh that was joined by the rest of the Fairy Tail members. Naruto scowled. "What the hell is so funny old man?" Makarov and the rest of Fairy Tail just laughed harder. Makarov managed to control himself long enough to get in a few words between chuckles.

"I'm...Sorry. It's just that...Everyone thinks...You need to pass...some extremely...hard test to join...Fairy Tail." At this point, the guild master had stopped chuckling enough to complete full sentences. "That's why Fairy Tail doesn't get too many members all the time cause everyone is just too scared to ask."

Naruto just stared bewildered. 'What the hell? Aren't these people the least bit suspicious about where I came from or who the hell I am? No way it's this easy. There is a catch here somewhere.' As if reading his thoughts, or at least part of them, the old man said.

"No Naruto, there is no catch. I still need you to come with me to my office to finalize everything, but that's pretty much it."

At his words, Naruto snapped his head up. On one hand, he really didn't want to follow after this old man into a possible death trap. But on the other, it could be worth the risk. 'Might as well play it safe and get a Kawarimi ready in case.' He thought.

Outwardly, he acted surprised, which wasn't really that hard to do, before following the old man as he led the way to his office.

As soon as they got to his office, the old man shut the door and hopped onto his seat before gesturing for Naruto to take a seat as well. Naruto did so, albeit a bit stiffly. Makarov reached into his desk before pulling out a sheet of paper and a pen. "I'm going to do a small interview of you to find out what I need to put on your profile for future reference." Naruto merely nodded his consent.

Makarov smiled cheerfully. "First question. What is your full name and age?"

Naruto paused. 'I suppose I can give him my name without arising any suspicions.'

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm 16." Makarov paused a moment to note that down before asking him the next question.

"Alright, how do you prefer to fight? Meaning what kinds of magic do you use, what's your specialty, that kind of thing."

Naruto frowned mentally. 'Damn, now how should I answer this one. I read that all magic comes from The One Magic and that there is many kinds of magic. So I suppose saying that I use **Wind Magic** should seem legit. I guess I can add **Clone Magic **and** Seal Magic **to the list of names, but how should I explain my sage mode or **Rasengan**? I guess I can call them the same brand of magic and call it **Natural Magic** or something like that. I'm gonna say I mainly use my **Wind Magic **and I suppose I don't really have to mention my sage mode or **Rasengan** until later. Way later. Damn, I'm really hoping he buys this shit.'

Naruto pretended to think for a while before reviewing over his abilities. "I mainly use **Wind Magic **and** Clone Magic **to fight." He paused before considering the other part of the question. "I suppose I'm a heavy hitter, and most my technique's are pretty destructive. But against a lot of people, I just rely on hand to hand combat to fight most people. I also know some **Seal Magic**."

'At least now he won't wonder why I barely use magic until I manage to recreate some wind jutsu that don't freaking murder people on contact.' Naruto winced as he remembered what had happened to Kakuzu.

Makarov looked at him curiously. "That's a rather interesting skill set for a mage. Not many rely on hand to hand combat without using some form of magic to aid them, and **Clone Magic** is definitely a first. **Wind Magic **is fairly common, being an elemental magic." Makarov paused before continuing. "I think I might need a demonstration to see better if that is fine with you. I have enough to name you a guild member, but I want to see you fight for a better understanding. After that, we can finish your profile some other time."

'Oh shit, now what do I do. Depending on who he has me fight, I might have to go farther and reveal more than I said to him. I hope Taijutsu, Kawarimi, and a couple clones here and there will be enough to deal with it...' Naruto panicked/thought/mused in his mind.

"Ah I guess I can. I don't really have any problem with it." Naruto said, smiling slightly. Makarov beamed at his acceptance and gave a grin of his own.

"Sure, just follow me and I'll have you fight a member to see what you can do." With that, Makarov got up and headed towards the door. Naruto did so to after a moment of hesitation, praying that he didn't do anything to suspicious.

As soon as they were outside of Makarov's office, the old guildmaster proclaimed to the guild.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, LISTEN UP!" Continuing in a softer tone once he had their attention, he said. "We have a new guild member, but I need someone to fight him to see what he's got. Who's volunteering?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth, or before anyone else in the guild could raise their voice, a voice bellowed out.

"NEW GUY! I'LL FIGHT YOU!"

And of course the source of the loud voice was the pink haired boy from before. Naruto stared at him, judging his strength. 'He reminds me a lot of myself when I just became genin, so it's possible that he is one of the weaker members in the guild. If he is the guy I'm facing, I should be fine for the most part. I'll still be careful in case.'

Makarov shook his head at the pink haired boy. "Natsu, you can't just fight everyone you see you know. But I'll let you this once."

'So Natsu is his name, huh?' Naruto mused. The boy, however simply cheered in victory.

"YEAH! LET'S GO!"

Makarov spoke up again. "Let's take this outside." With that, the guild members got up and headed outside, though some were grumbling at Natsu taking away their chance to fight the newbie.

Once outside, the guild formed a circle, with the 2 boys in the middle. "Alright boys, I'll be the ref for this match. Remember no lasting injuries, maiming or killing. Otherwise, everything goes." Makarov explained to them before stepping back himself. Pausing a second to let the tension build up, he cried out.

"BEGIN!"

As soon as he said that, Naruto jumped back to put some distance between himself and Natsu. 'If he's like I was when I was a kid, then he's definitely a brawler and gets up close for his fights. I'll keep some distance between us and wear him out. Best if I make the guild think I'm nothing special so people don't pay too much attention to me.' Unfortunately for Naruto, this fight would certainly attract quite a bit of attention from his guild members, even if he was trying not to show of so much.

Naruto was so engrossed in his thoughts that he almost didn't see the pink haired boy flying at him with an arm pulled back. Almost. But he did notice in time and deflected the boys arm to the side with his palm. His movement was almost instantaneous and was barely seen by the on looking guild members.

'Fast.' They all thought.

Naruto on the other hand was slapping mentally for not noticing the boy until the last second. 'Idiot, get your head in the game!' Focusing on the fight now, he continued his movement, causing the boy to spin around, leaving his back exposed. Not letting go of his arm, Naruto also spun himself so they were back to back and flipped the younger boy over his shoulder and personally acquainted the boy with the ground. Smirking at the thought, he jumped back once again, preparing himself for the boys next attack, assuming he wasn't knocked unconscious. As if proving him wrong, Natsu picked himself up of the ground before brushing his nose with a finger. In fact, he barely seemed hurt and more excited than anything.

"I'm all fired up." Natsu said before punching his fists, igniting them. Naruto looked at the technique. 'So this is Magic huh? I wonder how strong it is...' He mused to himself. He forced himself out of his thoughts as the boy once charged forward at a surprising speed, much much faster than the speed he had displayed before. "OH SHIT!" Naruto yelled as he barely managed to avoid the attack. In response, the boy merely threw out his free arm to get him. Naruto grinned at the attempt. "To easy." As he moved himself but a centimetre beside the boys outstretched arm. His cocky attitude however was his downfall as he didn't notice a small spike in Natsu's magic.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu roared as he fire en-coating his hand burst out and sent Naruto flying into a tree. The watching members winced as the tree crashed on top of the downed boy.

Naruto was slowly picking himself up. 'Ow. That was a pretty strong hit. Better be more careful now.' He wiped his lip before smirking. "Let's go wild." With that, Naruto disappeared from view.

Natsu was frantically looking around him, trying to find his opponent. "What the? Where'd he go?" Before he could say more, he was launched back. Naruto appeared once again, his leg still extended from his kick. Before Natsu himself was fully aware of what happened, Naruto had once again disappeared. A second after he did, Natsu was launched back towards the centre of the ring, where Naruto was waiting for him. Timing it perfectly, he kicked Natsu up into the air. Crouching down, he shot up after him. However, Natsu was not out of the game just yet. Straightening himself so he was facing Naruto again, he sucked in a deep breath, just as Naruto appeared to kick him back down to earth.

"Fire Dragon's...Roar!" Natsu bellowed out a blazing stream of fire that slammed into Naruto, sending him high into the sky. 'DAMMIT! THAT FREAKING HURT! The drop's gonna hurt even more.' He thought as he began bracing his legs for impact. However, Natsu was not done his barrage just yet. Still in midair, he propelled himself upwards using his fire as rockets, and got above Naruto.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He yelled out as he sent Naruto plummeting towards the ground at a rapid pace. Naruto crashed head first into the ground, creating a loud 'BOOM' and causing dust to fly up everywhere, blocking him from view. Natsu didn't fair much better as he to crashed to the ground, though not as violently as Naruto.

The watching guild members were worried and two thoughts were running through their minds. The first was, 'That fight was FREAKING amazing' and second, 'Oh shit, I think the new guy is dead.'

Natsu appeared to not have noticed and merely laughed unsteadily. "Haha...I..wo-" Before Natsu could complete his sentence, Naruto appeared behind him.

"Sorry Natsu, but not today." He said before giving him a swift chop to the neck, knocking him out. Flashing a victory sign at the onlookers, he gave them a huge grin before addressing Makarov.

"Well, old man. Do I win or what?"

**-End-**

**Well here's chapter 2. I would've gone more, but I thought that this would be a good place to stop. Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed. They were all mostly positive, and overall much better than before, so thanks. I'm just gonna quickly address some questions/ comments/ suggestions real quick now.**

**Lightningblade49: Yeah, Naruto will be learning the more common ninja techniques that he doesn't already know, like Shunshin. He is going to replicate the wind techniques that he's seen so far, like Pressure Damage and Cutting Whirlwind and all that. I was actually already planning for him to learn how to use a sword, but thanks for suggesting anyway. And I will have Naruto base some moves off of other techniques that he sees being used, except he will make them wind versions of course.**

**Guest (Jmw): I unfortunately don't really see Naruto being paired up with Levy simply due to vastly different personalities. I'm planning for this to be a NarutoxMirajane actually, but I'm still not completely sure. Naruto will NOT be learning magic. I already decided to keep a chakra using Naruto, though he will tell everyone that it is magic. I can have him create his own new brand of ninjutsu techniques- tell me what you think of that. I might put up a poll for that actually. And as for sister figure, I was thinking on using Erza, but Lisanna might actually work out better. Anyway, thanks for your review, and sorry if not all of your things were considered.**

**As for everyone else, once again thank you very much for reviewing, and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**

**HokagenoNaruto, out.**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

"Demon/Summon Speaking"

'Demon Thinking'

Naruto yawned loudly as he got up, remembering the previous day's events. After his fight with Natsu, which had let the entire guild gaping, they had gone back into the guild where Makarov finalized the documents for his joining, and then proceeded to throw a massive party. Naruto himself was the centre of attention and he was greeted by pretty much everyone in the guild, who were intrigued by his abilities and strengths. After the party, which had left everyone on the floor except for a few people and Naruto, Makarov offered him residence in the guild basement, which he accepted, though he was slightly wary.

Naruto smirked. "I cleaned out those poor fools." He said as he remembered the gambling last night, where he had cleaned out almost everyone in the guild, leaving him with a sizeable amount of cash.

"Might as well go upstairs and see who's up."

Walking up the stairs, and also popping various bones, Naruto entered the main guild hall to see that not very many people were up and about. In fact, the only two there were the guild master, and the girl from yesterday, Mirajane.

"Good morning." Naruto said, surprising the both of them.

"Oh, Naruto! I didn't realize you would be up at this time. Not very many are." Makarov said. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, but I wake pretty early. So what's up?"

"Nothing much actually. Mira-chan and I were just opening up the guild for the other members to come later." Makarov paused. "So, what are your plans for today?" Naruto thought over what he should for a moment before replying.

"Well, I was planning on doing some training about now. But after that, I'm not to sure what I should do. Any suggestions?"

"Training, huh? How come? You seem plenty strong from yesterday's display, and you weren't even using your magic." Makarov asked, curious. "Not very many people try to train their magic after a certain point."

"Well, I guess you can never be too strong. Plus, I wanna work on some moves." Naruto replied.

"I see. And to answer your earlier question, after your training, come by to the guild to grab some breakfast, and then why don't you go on a job to get some more cash for a place to rent. Sleeping on the basement floor won't be good or you." Makarov said.

Naruto nodded his agreement. "Anyway, thanks old man. I'll see you and Mirajane later." And with that, he walked outside the guild, and walked to the nearest open area that he remembered from yesterday. After getting a fair bit away from the guild, he broke out into a light jog to for a warm-up before he started his training. Arriving in the field after 5 minutes, he sat down to prioritize what he should work on.

"Let's see." He muttered. "I need to work on my **Fuuton **so I can actually use it without killing someone every damn time. I also need to brush up on my **Fuinjutsu **and how to make explosive tags cause I might need those." Deciding on what he needed to do, Naruto made a few hundred clones to to attempt to recreate **Fuuton jutsu's **that he had seen over the years.

"Let me remember. There was **Great Breakthrough** that Orochimaru used on us." Wincing at the memories, he continued. "Then there was Gaara's **Drilling Air Bullet. **And **Pressure Damage** that the Kakuzu used, and Temari's** Cutting Whirlwind**. I think that needed a fan, but it should work without them. Then there was the basic wind manipulation that Asuma-Sensei showed me. And those techniques that Sora used most of the time. **Beast Wave Palm**, I think it was. And that **Wind Blade** technique that Gaara's sensei used. That one was pretty cool to."

Turning to face his clones, he began giving out orders on what to work on. "25 of you go over how wind manipulation that Asuma-Sensei showed us. I want 25 clones working on these jutsu's. I need you to work on **Great Breakthrough**, **Drilling Air Bullet**, and...uh...I suppose **Wind Blade**."

As his clones got to work, Naruto thought over his battle with Nagato. Going over what had happened, his eyes went wide as he thought of something.

"I wonder." He mused. "I'm not sure if it'll work or not, but...Maybe I'll be able to make it happen...I'll hold off on attempting it until later..." Sighing to himself, he got up and began his physical exercise.

"I need to keep getting stronger. When I get back, I'll beat the Akatsuki and protect everyone!"

**-Scene-**

Naruto was walking back to the guild, after about 2 hours of intense training. Even with clones, he was having trouble re-creating some of the moves. **Great Breakthrough **had been easy enough, considering it was similar to the **Grand Fireball **that his former team-mate used so frequently. But other than that, he had made little progress on the other techniques, except maybe the **Drilling Air Bullet**. Every time he tried to form a **Wind Blade**, it would just break apart after a second.

'I need to get better on controlling wind chakra.' He thought. Speaking of wind manipulation, it was the one field where he had actually made progress in. His was still far from what Asuma had showed him, but it was much better than before.

Arriving at the gates of the guild, he noticed that while there were more people than before, it was still not much. Naruto chuckled to himself. "They're all probably dealing with their hangovers."

"Good morning Naruto!" A voice called out. Turning to whoever had called him, he noticed Mirajane waving him over towards the bar. Deciding to see what was up, he calmly walked over and took a seat.

"Hey Mirajane. What's up?" Naruto asked.

Mirajane smiled as she cleaned a glass. "Nothing much. I thought that I would see if you wanted something to eat after your training. How did it go by the way?" Naruto grinned.

"It went great! I made some pretty good progress. Oh and I was wondering...Could you make me some ramen?" he asked, with large, wide eyes near the end. Mirajane giggled.

"Of course! Just give me a minute and it'll be ready!" She said cheerfully. Naruto nodded, trying to hide how excited he was. 'I finally get to have ramen. After so long!' He shouted mentally, tears of joy streaming down his face.

A few minutes later, Naruto was sitting with a bowl of ramen in front of him. Thanks the gods once more, and instinctively purging it of any poisons, Naruto began digging into his ramen full force, not pausing a second from his treat. Mirajane was just staring at him eat, her jaw slightly open as she wondered how on earth anyone could eat that fast without spilling a drop. Naruto noticed her staring, and momentarily paused from his eating.

"What's so funny?" He asked. Here only response was to blink and start giggling uncontrollably. Naruto growled again. "I said, what on earth is so funny?" Mirajane giggled even harder, before shakily pulling out a mirror, showing Naruto that he had noodles hanging from various parts of his mouth, making him look comical.

"Oops!"

Sucking up the noodles, Naruto quickly finished the ramen. He looked at Mirajane seriously, getting her to stare back and feel nervous under his gaze after a few moments. "W-what?"

Naruto lowered his head, darkening his features. He snapped it back up, revealing stars in his eyes and a lovestruck expression on his face.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE DELICIOUS RAMEN! THE GODS OF RAMEN HAVE TRULY BLESSED ME!" He yelled out, bowing to her. Mirajane giggled cutely.

A few minutes later, with Naruto relatively back to normal, they were once again in their former positions. "Ahem. Anyway, what should I do now?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I guess you should go get a job to do." Mirajane replied.

Naruto thought over it. "Sounds good. Where do I get a job?"

"Just head on over to the job board over there, and choose any you like. Normally, we forbid new members from taking combat-heavy missions from the start, but I think I can make an exception for you if that's what you choose." Naruto nodded.

"Thanks. Be right back." He said, getting up and heading over to the job board.

Once in front of the board, he looked over it, glancing at the jobs. 'A lot of these jobs are similar to missions back home. Capture, combat, escort, delivery, even those stupid D-ranks.' Naruto shivered at the thought of those...missions. 'Yeah, I'm not doing those unless I really need cash. Let's see. I guess I might as well take on something mildly exciting.' Once again scanning over them, he finally found one he liked. 'Hm, not the most exciting, but it should be enough for me to handle with the bare minimum chakra. Sounds good.' Grabbing it off the board, the brought it back to Mirajane, who looked at it for a second before looking at him.

"Alright. Let me just put this don in the mission log. Oh! And since it's your first mission, you have to bring a team with you. It's standard requirement for all new members going on combat missions for the first time." Naruto nodded.

"Alright, I guess I can do that. But who should I bring?" He asked. "I don't really know many people in this guild." He added sheepishly.

"On this type of mission, since you're doing large scale fighting, you'll need a more versatile fighter and a support. You'll also need an attacker, but you should fit the bill there." Mirajane lectured slightly. "For those roles, bring Gray as your versatile fighter, and Cana as support."

Naruto nodded. "Aright thanks, Mirajane." He got up to leave, only to sit back down. "Ah, who are they again?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head and grinning.

Mirajane giggled. "Gray is the boy over there who is stripping, and Cana is the girl in the bikini top drinking from a barrel at the table over there." Naruto turned his head to look at both people, only to sweat drop as he watched them. The boy, Gray, was indeed stripping as if it were the most casual thing in the world. The girl, Cana, was downing a barrel of what appeared to be sake. Behind her were several other similar sized barrels.

'...I'm not gonna bother saying anything.'

Turning back to Mirajane, he spoke. "Anyway, thanks again Mirajane. I'll see you after the mission is complete."

"No problem Naruto. Oh! And just call me Mira, or Mira-chan. That's what everyone calls me." She said.

"Will do. See you Mira." With that, he headed over to the suggested members to enlist their help. Choosing to walk to Gray first, he walked over to where the boy was sitting with his back turned, once again fully clothed.

"Gray?" He asked. Gray turned around, wondering who it was, only to see Naruto behind him.

"Oh! Naruto! What do you need? Good job beating Natsu by the way." He said.

"I was gonna go on my mission, and Mira suggested that I bring a team for it and recommended you and Cana to come along. So, wanna come?" Naruto asked.

"Sure, why not? When do we leave?" He asked. Naruto thought. 'I still wanna look around town, maybe find a blacksmith to make me some armour, and maybe some kunai later on. And a clothes shop cause mine are barely holding together.' Naruto paused in his thinking. 'That should take around 2-3 hours. Yeah, that sounds about good.'

Looking at Gray again, he answered his question. "How about we meet in front of the Fairy Tail gates in 3 hours time?"

"Sounds good." Gray answered. Naruto grinned.

"Sweet!" I'll go tell Cana the same. See ya then." Naruto said before walking over to where Cana was.

Unlike Gray, who didn't see him because his back was turned, Cana noticed him walking towards her.

"Naruto! What do you want?" She asked, glaring at him for some reason. Naruto sweat dropped. 'Why is she so angry at me?'

"Umm, why are you glaring at me?" Naruto asked, voicing his concerns.

Cana's glare only intensified. "You...You pretty much BANKRUPTED me and you ask why I'm angry?!" She yelled at him comically, waving her arms. Naruto's sweat drop only grew bigger.

'So that's why.' Naruto thought.

"Hey! I didn't know I would be that lucky!" He protested. Cana crossed her arms and huffed at him while looking in the other direction, pouting.

"Just tell me what you want, and then leave me to drown in my alcohol." She said, weeping comically. Naruto fell over. Straightening himself, he looked at her again.

"Erm, anyway. I was going on my first mission, And Mira told me to get a team. She suggested you and Gray. I already got Gray, just need you." He told her.

Cana blinked, considering it. "...Fine. How much is the pay?"

"I dunno. Lemme check." Looking at the job request in his hand, Naruto looked the pay for the job. "It's paying 750 000. Is that good?"

Cana blinked. "Is that good? It's three quarters to a million! I'm in! I need the booze money anyway." Naruto sweat dropped at the last part, but grinned nonetheless.

"Awesome! Meet in front of Fairy Tail in 3 hours. See ya."

Walking outside, Naruto thought over what to do next. "I guess I should find a blacksmith that I can rely on to make me good kunai, and some light armour. I'll check that out first, and then find a clothing store to find something cool to wear. Orange, but cool." His thoughts set, Naruto began walking towards what felt like the commercial part of Magnolia Town.

Naruto found his first destination after about 10 minutes of searching. It was a fairly small shop, nothing to extravagant, but it was what he was searching for. Entering, he noticed that it was rather cool for a blacksmith's store. Looking around, he saw various swords of all shapes, sizes, and quality.

"Something ya need lad?" A voice called from behind him. Naruto spun around, only to find himself face to face with the man that he had met at the entrance to Magnolia, Bert.

"Ah it's you lad! Glad t' see ya. What brings ya here to my fine shop?" Bert asked him jovially.

"Yeah. I was wondering if you did custom orders?" Naruto asked the large man.

"'Course I do lad. This 'ere is the finest blacksmith shop you'll find in Magnolia." Bert said. Naruto grinned.

"Sweet! Here, take a look at this and tell me if you can make more of these." Naruto said, handing the man a kunai, albeit a dulled one. Bert took it and examined it.

"Hmm, should be simply enough." He said. "A knife that can be thrown, but mostly used for close combat and slipping into chinks in yur enemies armour. Extremely lethal, extremely precise. Am I right?" Naruto whistled. 'This guy knows his stuff.'

"Damn, you're good." Bert just laughed.

"I've been in this business long enough lad. Plus, one of my more frequent customers has given me a similar design before, so I know what I'm doing." Naruto was instantly on guard. 'Is there another shinobi in this world? If so, who are they? How did they get here? What village are they from?"

Naruto stared at the man carefully, his body language giving away nothing. "Ah, if you don't mind me asking, who asked for this design?" Naruto asked carefully. 'If it's another shinobi by some odd chance, I need to make sure they aren't a threat.

"Ah, this lil' missy named Erza Scarlet. Though you might know here by her more famous nickname, 'Titania' Erza. She's a Fairy Tail mage and has been coming here since she was a child." Bert answered. Naruto allowed his guard to loosen. 'At least I'm not dealing with some foreign shinobi. He said that she's a Fairy Tail member, but by her nickname, she must be pretty strong. I'll be careful around her if I ever meet her. I might ask Mira what she knows about her.'

"Anyway, how long will it take for you to make me a set of, say around 20?" Naruto asked, getting back to topic. Bert thought for a moment before answering.

"Should take me 'bout a week or so. You can pick 'em up then." Naruto nodded.

"Alright, thanks Bert. I'll see you in a week then. Bye."

Walking out of the shop, Naruto tried to look for a clothes shop that he could go to. Passing by one, he entered a moment later.

"Hi! How may I help you?" The clerk called out.

"Just looking around. Trying to find something orange, and extremely cool. Do you know of anything like that?" Naruto asked her, hoping that she did. He REALLY wanted orange, painting a target on your back be damned. He brought his hopes up when the clerk smiled after a minute of thinking.

"We may have something of the like. I'll bring it in just a moment." The clerk said, walking to the back of the store. She came back a minute later, with something folded in her hand.

"Here, take a look at this. It's not fully orange, but I think it's suitable and meets your requirements." The clerk said, holding it up.

Naruto smirked. "It's perfect. How long for you to make about 4 sets?"

"It should take about 4-6 days to finish your order. May I know your name to identify who ordered it?"

"Put it down as Naruto. And I'll come by in a week to pick it up." Naruto told her. The clerk nodded.

"We'll see you then. Have a good day."

Naruto nodded before leaving the store. Checking the time, he noticed it was almost time for him to meet up with his team. Heading back to Fairy Tail at a lax pace, he noticed Gray and Cana waiting for him at the gates.

"Hey guys!" He called. "I hope you didn't wait to long!"

It was Gray who answered him. "Nah. We just got here. So, what's the job?"

"Our job is to get rid of some bandits that have been terrorizing a town and free some hostages they kidnapped from the towns people." Naruto explained.

"Sounds good."

"Let's do this."

Naruto smiled. "My thoughts exactly. Let's get this show on the road." With that, the team of three headed in the direction of their job assignment.

**-End-**

**And that's chapter 3. Yeah, It's more filler-ish than anything, but the next chapter will hopefully have more action, it being the mission and all. Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 2 and I'm glad you liked it. I wasn't to sure if the fight seen was good or not. Now, quick review addressing time.**

**Lightningblade49: Don't worry, Naruto's gonna stop thinking in his battles from now on mostly. He was mostly thinking cause he was trying to be careful on what he showed. And it did hinder him, but he'll stop that from now on. And thanks. Still not sure about NarutoxMirajane, but it's the most likely going in my head right now.**

**Back to the general questions/ comments you might have. **

**Starting with clones, Naruto is only going to use clones this one time cause he needs some wind techniques and fast because you never know when you'll encounter an enemy that you can't beat with taijutsu alone. Of course, he could use Rasengan and Sage Mode, but he's trying to keep things like that at a minimum.**

**Next up, Is the thing about Naruto's own ninjutsu. I'm not really sure what it should be, so if you all could put your suggestions in the reviews, that would be great! I'll put them in a poll, and make it by most popular vote.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It was kind of boring, but I wanted to get it out of the way. Anyway, review and tell me your ninjutsu suggestions.**

**HokagenoNaruto, out.**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

**"Demon/Summon Speaking"**

**'_Demon Thinking_'**

'Wow, this place is run down as hell.'

Was Naruto's primary thought as he gazed at the small town that was the sight of their job. The town had certainly seen better days, and was run down, with graffiti on every wall and an oppressive feeling was hanging in the atmosphere, as if all the negative emotions had gathered to warn people away from the town.

Behind him, Cana whistled. "Damn, this town is really in some deep stuff. No wonder they put urgent on the job request."

Grey nodded. "It's probably worse than it looks."

"Yeah, most likely. C'mon, let's get going and do this job." Naruto said. On the inside, his thoughts were going a mile a minute. 'Something's not right here. This feeling in the air...It's not natural...Shit. The bandits must be causing this somehow, probably through a mage in their ranks.' Naruto sighed, frustrated. 'Great. The first mission I get here is pretty much the same as the Wave mission. Just on a smaller scale, and we're not protecting someone. But it's still under-ranked. I wonder if Gray and Cana have noticed yet?'

Looking at his team mates, he noticed that they were idle, and were casually walking while looking around town. Speaking of the town, it was a complete ghost town. Doors were closed and windows were boarded shut.

"Damn. This place is pretty much dead. There's no people here." Cana said, looking around to find signs of life. Naruto shook his head.

"No, there are people here." He said, sensing people inside the buildings. "We're being watched."

Instantly the 2 quieted down slightly. "What should we do?" Gray asked.

"We'll go to the place their mayor is most likely to be. He is the one who sent out the request, so it's best to find him." Naruto explained. "I don't think we need to worry about the people because chances are that they're the townspeople."

Cana nodded. "Sounds good. But where is the mayor?"

Naruto shrugged. "Dunno. The easiest thing to do would be to ask these people, but it would also be risky in case they mistake us for enemies and attack."

"I say we just get it over and done with. You said it yourself, these people are the townspeople, so they won't hurt us if we explain." Gray suggested.

Cana agreed. "Let's do it. C'mon Naruto." She said before leading Gray towards a random building. Naruto sighed, feeling frustrated.

'Dammit. These guys aren't being careful at all! Shit. Now I have to follow them to make sure they don't get themselves killed.' Growling to himself, he followed Cana and Gray to the building.

Naruto ran to get in front of the two mages, and raised his hand. "Hold up. Lemme go in first in case."

The two mages nodded their consent. "Lead the way."

Naruto placed his hand on the door, his other hand inching towards his kunai pouch. Pushing the door open, Naruto was forced to duck as various objects sailed at him.

"Woah! Hold up! Don't shoot! We're the mages you hired!" He yelled. 'Well more like 2 mages and a shinobi, but who gives a crap about details anyway?"

Hesitantly, his assailants lowered their makeshift weapons. "Who are you and what's your name?" A rugged looking man asked with a wary eye, ready to attack him if needed.

Naruto spoke. "Like I said, we're the mages you guys hired. My name's Naruto. The other two are outside." Looking at the man as he spoke, he noticed he was a very tall man. Looking at his arms and face, he noticed some scars.

'Probably from fighting the bandits.' He mused. Looking around the room, he noticed roughly 5 other people. There were 2 woman, the rest being kids. Looking closely, he noticed that they to were in a similar state to the man, some harsher than others.

"How can I trust you?" The man asked.

Not bothering to speak, Naruto handed him the job slip that he had with him, then pulling up his sleeve and showing the man his Fairy Tail mark.

"This should be proof enough."

The man looked at him, still not fully trusting him. "And your companions?"

"Outside. They are also from Fairy Tail." Naruto said. The man looked at him, sizing him up before sighing.

"Bring them inside. If you are who you say you are, then only you can help us."

**-Scene-**

**-Magnolia Town-**

Makarov stared at the mage in front of him.

"Are you absolutely sure?" He asked finally.

The mage stared at him. "Yes Master. On my latest mission, I heard rumours that the people terrorizing the town are part of the dark guild, Black Fire."

Makarov's eyes hardened. "If that is true, Erza, then I need you to assemble a small team and help them. They are unaware of their situation, and need all the help they can get. While it is not a particularly strong guild, Black Fire has a lot of members. They can't take them on. Plus, they've enlisted the bandits help."

The mage, Erza, nodded. "Who should I bring?"

"Take Mystogan with you. The job was originally a high C level assignment. But with a large dark guild present, then I suspect the difficulty has been raised to at least an A-rank. Between the two of you, plus those three, you should be able to handle it." Makarov told her, unnaturally serious. "Help them and make sure nothing happens."

Erza nodded. "You can count on me Master. I'll leave immediately after gathering Mystogan."

**-Scene-**

"So these bandits have been looting your town and kidnapping the people for about 4 months now?" Naruto confirmed. 'Something's not right with what this guy is saying. Bandits aren't that coordinated. Plus, with the energy I felt over the town, a mage is definitely involved.' Naruto groaned. 'This better not be like the Wave mission.'

The man nodded. "Yes, that's right. They don't care who gets in their way. Mean, woman, children, even the elderly- nothing matters. They kill whoever tries to stop them. They kidnapped our mayor and took the the Communications Lacrima from his office. We barely managed to send out a message."

Cana shook her head. "That's horrible."

The man nodded. "It is. So please, I'm begging you! Save our town!" The man cried, getting on his knees and bowing. Naruto frowned. 'I have a really bad feeling about this. I should probably call for backup from Fairy Tail if we're gonna do this mission.'

However, before he could say anything, Gray interrupted.

"We'll do it." He said. Naruto groaned mentally. 'God dammit! Doesn't he realize the situation?'

The man looked at Gray, his eyes gleaming with hope. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Naruto sighed, before speaking. "We'll go scout out the bandits and formulate a plan. Is it alright if we use your town as a base headquarters?" The man nodded.

"It's fine. Whatever helps."

"Thank you. We'll be heading to their camp now."

**-Scene-**

As soon as they were outside of the building, Naruto turned towards his team-mates. "We'll need to be very careful when we go to the bandit camp. Normally, bandits aren't this organized, so there are probably some mages involved. Keep your guards up."

Gray looked shocked. "Mages? But this mission is only a C, not a B or A!"

It was Cana who replied to him. "Yeah, but sometimes missions are mis-ranked." She paused. "They're a real pain in the ass to deal with." She added as an afterthought.

Naruto nodded. "Exactly. So we have to be careful. Let's go and see how many there are." With that last sentence, Naruto began walking towards the entrance of the town, with Cana and Gray following him a moment ago.

**-Scene-**

Now in the forest once again, the three stopped for a break to plan. "Alright, we don't know where they are, so I'm gonna go scout them out."

Cana shook her head. "That's too dangerous!"

"Yeah! It's too dangerous to go alone." Gray agreed.

Naruto shook his head in denial. "It's fine. I'm a user of **Wind Magic**, so I can sense them using the wind." Inwardly, Naruto face palmed 'Listen to the wind? That was terrible. Oh well, it's better than telling them I'm actually gonna use Sage Mode to sense them.'

After a minute, Cana and Gray relented. "Fine, but be careful." Naruto nodded, before heading deeper into the forest until he was out of sight. Looking around him, Naruto judged that this was far enough from his team mates. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Naruto stilled his body and mind, and began gathering natural energy. A minute later, he opened his eyes, his pupils in the distinct shape of a toad's.

"Odd. Gathering the energy was faster than usual. Probably cause natural energy is richer in this world." He mused. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes once again and spread his senses.

'Let's see...There!'

Shooting his eyes open, he got up and began sprinting towards where he had sensed a large gathering of humans. Arriving in a clearing, he hid behind a tree and looked discretely at the clearing. He noticed many tents, and half as many people mulling around. They were dressed like bandits, and were in just as bad a condition.

'There must be over 50 in the clearing. What about that mage I'm suspecting though?' Spreading his senses again, Naruto attempted to find individuals that had a higher concentration of energy than the bandits he had been sensing. Pinpointing their locations, he looked to the north-west end of the camp, where three people were arguing. Their energy levels were much higher than the bandits. 'Those must be the mages.'

Stretching out his senses a final time, he attempted to find the hostages. Finding them, he groaned. 'Wonderful. Their in the middle of the freaking camp. Just great.'

'Time to head back and tell Gray and Cana.' Turning around, Naruto sprinted in the direction of his team mates, eventually letting his Sage Mode dissipate as he neared them. Walking out of the trees, he raised a hand in greeting.

"I found the bandit camp. There were three also mages with them, just like I thought." Pausing before continuing. "But, we should be fine. It's only three mages and 50 bandits. If we're careful, we should be able to free the hostages and beat them." Never before in his life would Naruto be so wrong.

Seeing their nods, Naruto began walking towards the bandits camp once more, with Gray and Cana hot on his heels.

After 15 minutes of walking, Naruto stopped, almost causing Gray and Cana to bump into him.

"Why'd we stop?" Gray complained.

"We're almost there, so I'm gonna tell you guys the basic plan. Gray, you told me you used **Ice Magic**. And Cana, you use **Card Magic**." Naruto confirmed. The two nodded, causing Naruto to grin.

"Alright, so here's what we'll do..." As they listened, Gray and Cana couldn't help but grin.

"You two got the plan?" They nodded. "Good. Gary, start us off." Gray nodded before entering the clearing and yelling out.

**"Ice Make: Floor!" **

A floor, made completely of ice covered the ground. The bandits, who had risen and were charging towards Gray, suddenly slipped on the ice and tumbled to the ground, tripping over one another. Naruto grinned. 'So far, so good.'

"Cana, you're up." Nodding her understanding, Cana grabbed a handful of cards and threw them around the camp, carefully avoiding the middle. As soon as they hit the ground, Cana activated her magic, causing the cards to blow up, taking out a few bandits, but doing their desired purpose very well, which was causing panic among their ranks.

"**Explosion Cards**, success." She muttered.

'Looks like it's my turn.' Gathering his chakra, he sucked in a deep breath.

**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"** A large and violent gust of raged blew through the camp, picking up dust and sending the bandits flying. Leaping forward, Naruto used chakra to run on the still frozen ground towards the tent where the hostages were being held. Knocking aside any bandits that were in his way, Naruto arrived outside the tent shortly. Opening it slightly, he noticed the hostages huddled together, some shaking in fear. Upon the sight of him, they began shaking even more, thinking him to be a bandit. Noticing this, Naruto quickly reassured them.

"Whoa! I'm a ni-mage! I'm here to help!" Naruto said. 'Damn, I'm not used to calling myself a mage yet. I almost let it slip that I'm a shinobi.'

Creating a few clones, he noticed the hostages were still reluctant to go with him. Naruto rolled his eyes. "Look, we have to hurry. There's not much time left, and you don't have much of a choice here."

The hostages finally relented, and allowed themselves to be picked up by the clones. Nodding to his clones, Naruto ran out of the tent with his clones following him.

The bandits, now thoroughly disorganized, were slowly being defeated one by one as Cana continued to use her cards from behind the trees, while Gray was using his **Ice Make** at random intervals to attack and herd the bandits into large groups for Cana.

With the hostages now safely secured behind the tree line, Naruto also joined the battle to execute step 4.

_Flashback_

_"Here's what we'll do. Gray, I need you to cover the ground with ice. That's step 1. Then, Cana, you'll attack using your cards around the camp, but not in the middle- that's where the hostages are. Anything that causes mass panic will be good. Then, I'll use my **Wind Magic** to blow the bandits away and cause more panic. That's step 2. Then, while you and Gray continue to attack the bandits, I'll rush in and save the hostages, and hide them. That's step 3. You guys with me so far?" At their nods, Naruto continued explaining the plan. "Then, after the hostages are safe, I'll join the battle and we'll take out the rest of the bandits, that being step 4. After the bandits are out of the scenario, we'll attack the mages. Right now, their at the opposite side of the camp. That's step 5. Then, we high tail it back to the town, get our pay, and head back to Fairy Tail."_

_Flashback End _

Weaving in and out of the bandits ranks, Naruto was knocking out bandits left and right. Using the smoke from the explosions to his advantage, the bandits didn't stand a chance. The mages however, were far from fooled, viewing everything their end of the battlefield.

"Those Fairy Tail mages are rather strong, don't you think?" The first, a large man with a massive axe said.

"Yeah they are it seems. That's good. I've been itching for a good fight!" The second, a tall, muscular man said, grinning madly.

"Do not underestimate them, Tetsuhiko." The last mage, a petite, but beautiful woman with a katana at her side reprimanded the man.

The mage, now dubbed Tetsuhiko, sighed. "Yeah yeah, whatever. They won't stand a chance against my magic. Honestly, Katsumi, you're so uptight." Katsumi narrowed her eyes.

"It will not be my fault if you go and get yourself killed." Tetsuhiko shook his head.

"Whatever! I doubt those mages can beat me. No one can!"

The first mage, laughed. "Tetsuhiko, if I recall, Katsumi kicked your ass the other day."

"Shut up, Benkei! I'll kick your ass!"

"Quiet, the both of you. Observe our opponents, and prepare yourselves for battle. Benkei, prepare the Communications Lacrima." The two mages nodded, and quietly began observing the three Fairy Tail mages.

Back on the battlefield, the bandits were all but gone. Gray and Cana had come from cover and were attacking the bandits head to head. Well, Gray was at least. Cana was on the part of the ground that was not covered in ice as she lacked the ability to move on the ice.

Naruto had abandoned his smoky cover, and was running circles around the bandits. However upon feeling a spike of energy, Naruto quickly jumped back, pulling Gray with him, just in time to avoid the attack.

**"Earth Make: Spires!"**

Multiple spires of earth burst from the ground, easily breaking through the icy floor, some with spiked tips and others without, picking up lots of smoke and finishing off the remaining bandits. As the smoke cleared, Katsumi, Tetsuhiko and Benkei were each standing on a spire, looking down on the three Fairy Tail mages.

"I'm sorry, but we will not let Fairy Tail interfere with our business here." Katsumi said. Her statement caused Naruto to narrow his eyes. '...Their here for something. But what?'

"Whatever! We won't let you harm this town anymore!" Cana yelled to the woman. Tetsuhiko chuckled darkly.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but you say it like you can beat us at all."

"Cana, beat up the guy who just spoke. Gray, take on the big guy with the axe. I'll get the last one." Naruto said, watching the three.

Tetsuhiko laughed. "Pretty confident are-"

'BOOM'

He was cut off by an explosion, which caused him to fall from his now broken spire. The other two were also in similar situations. Katsumi narrowed her eyes as she looked around the camp area. The spires were all breaking down due to similar explosions. 'A pre-emptive strike.' She thought.

Naruto on the other hand was grinning wildly. 'Gotta love exploding tags.'

"Let's go you two! Oh, and you might wanna win." Naruto advised them before jumping to engage his opponent. Glancing at each other, Gray and Cana nodded before running to engage their targets.

**With Cana**

**"Card Magic: Explosion Cards!" **Cana yelled, her cards rushing to Tetsuhiko and exploding loudly. When the smoke cleared, Tetsuhiko was standing, completely unharmed by the point-blank ranged explosions and grinning madly.

"I'll have to admit, that attack was certainly surprising." He said, before rushing forward with surprising speed and punching Cana hard in the stomach before she could so much as express her surprise.

"Too bad it didn't work."

**With Gray**

**"Ice Make: Geyser!" **Gray yelled, causing a large geyser of ice to erupt where Benkei was standing, causing a large explosion. When the smoke cleared, Benkei was standing with the flat side of his axe blocking the geyser from completely emerging from the ground.

"Good attack, but it's not strong enough." He said before pushing his downward, shattering the geyser. Lifting his axe up once more, he slammed it into the ground, causing e large tsunami of earth to rush towards Gray, engulfing him completely.

**With Naruto**

Naruto was clashing his kunai with Katsumi's katana, causing sparks to fly through the air.

"You are stronger than the other two." Katsumi said between blows. Naruto grinned.

"Speak or yourself. Your cha-magic levels are higher than your team mates." He said as they continued to dance. Naruto was relying on his past experience and fast reflexes to counter against Katsumi's speed and strength with her sword. 'Holy shit! She's a lot faster than what I've seen from mages. Better be careful.' They continued to exchange blows for another minute before separating.

"You're fast." Naruto told her.

"Yet I can't manage to land a hit on you."

"I'm just awesome like that."

"This is getting rather redundant. I do believe it's time to take it up a notch." Katsumi said. She took a stance before focusing her energy through her sword, causing it to light itself on fire. Naruto grinned wildly.

"My thoughts exactly." He said, before channelling wind chakra through his kunai, coating it in light blue coloured chakra. Rushing towards each other, they once again clashed blades, causing the air around them to disrupt with the large amounts of energy being displaced.

**With Cana**

**"Card Magic: Wind Edge!" **

A massive wave of wind rushed towards Tetsuhiko, attempting to stop his charge. It did little to slow him down as he burst through the wind with ease and punched Cana, sending her flying into a tree.

"Ha! It's useless girl. Against my **Iron Body Magic**, you don't stand a chance. I can turn my whole body into iron, giving me great attack and defence. But best of all, it doesn't weigh me down at all. You're weak attacks can't even TOUCH me."

Cana breathed heavily. 'Iron? Iron is a metal. And metals conduct...For Merlin's sake, this better work.' Placing a few cards around herself, she pulled out some cards just as Tetsuhiko appeared in front of her.

**"Cards Magic: Prayers Fountain****!"**

Tetsuhiko was blasted back by the sudden pressurized streams of water.

**"Cards Magic: Icicle!"**

Cold icicles shot forward at intense speeds and pushed him even farther back.

**"Cards Magic: Wind Edge!"**

Throwing her cards behind him, a massive gust of wind sent him barrelling towards her. Skidding to a stop a few metres away from her, Tetsuhiko groaned as he got up. "That's it girl, you're going down." He looked downright murderous. "I usually don't use this, but you've really pissed me off!"

**"Iron Body: 1000% Iron!"** Tetsuhiko's skin turned a dark grey colour. Crouching down, he prepared to launch himself towards her. However Cana, instead of being scared, merely smirked.

"I'm not gonna lose. You are! **Card Magic: Summoned Lightning**!" Cana yelled fiercely, just as Tetsuhiko launched himself forward. Bolts of lightning shot at Tetsuhiko, intercepting his charge and electrocuting him. Tetsuhiko screamed in pain, before falling to the ground, twitching as the attack was finally over.

Exhausted, Cana fell to the ground. "It's finally...over." She said, letting out a sigh of relief. Hearing a sound, she froze in horror. Tetsuhiko, was slowly standing up, his body smoking. Cana closed her eyes as he appeared in front of her, his arm cocked back.

**With Gray**

As the debris cleared, it revealed Gray inside of a cage made of ice, saving him from the tsunami that would have surely crushed him.

"Hoh. So you survived that?" Benkei said, sounding amused. "That's good. It would have been a shame if you died after so confidently coming to take me on."

Gray breathed heavily before smirking, his ice prison falling to pieces. "Ha! That was nothing." Benkei smirked at him.

"It was nothing eh? Deal with this then! **Earth Make: God Hands**!" Two giant hands appeared around Gray and attempted to crush him. Gray rolled forward to avoid the hands, but was still hit by the shock-wave.

Picking himself up, he quickly retaliated. **"Ice Make: Lance!" **Multiple lances of ice emerged from Gray's hands as they rushed forward to impale Benkei. Cursing quietly, Benkei quickly blocked.

**"Earth Make: Wall!" **

The wall of earth burst from the ground, blocking Gray's ice lances, leaving Benkei unscathed. "Pretty strong attack for a kid. Let's see you hand this. **Earth Make: Dragon**!"

The dragon burst from the ground, flying towards Gray, intent on ripping him to shreds.

**"Ice Make: Knuckle!" **Gray froze the ground in front of him, from which a massive fist of ice burst, intercepting the dragon's charge and causing it to break apart. Gray panted. 'Shit. That took a lot of magic to block it. Wait...Where'd he go?!' Gray exclaimed mentally as he noticed that Benkei was no longer there.

"Right behind ya kid!" Gray spun around to face Benkei, only to receive a strong punch to the face, which sent him flying. Benkei was not done however as he once again rushed forward as Gray attempted to pick himself up. Pulling his axe from his back, he swung it down, causing a shock-wave which sent Gray careening.

**"Earth Make: Hammer!"**

The hammer burst from the ground and levitated above Gray, ready to crush him. "It's over kid." However, Gray was not done just yet. Forcing himself into a kneeling position, he ignored the pain he was feeling and put his hands together.

**"Ice Make: Rampart!" **A rampart of ice burst towards the sky, destroying the hammer.

**"Ice Make: Knuckle!" **Like with the dragon, massive fists burst from an ice pool beneath Benkei, sending him flying. However, instead of stopping just there, they continued on pounding him before finally breaking apart, leaving an injured Benkei to lie on the ground.

"I...Did it."

**"Earth Make: Dragon!" **Benkei's injured voice called out. The earth dragon flew towards Gray, who closed his eyes and awaited his death.

**With Cana**

**"Five Layered Magic Circle: Sacred Song." **A voice from behind Tetsuhiko said. As soon as he turned around, he was blasted forward by a concentrated beam of energy, knocking him out. Cana glanced at her saviour, who was revealed to be Mystogan. She let out a sigh of immense relief. "Thank goodness." She said before collapsing from her injuries.

**With Gray**

**"Sword Magic: Circle Sword!" **

"Dance, my blades." Swords appeared on either side of the earth dragon, slashing it to pieces, while some more swords attacked Benkei, slashing him various times before he finally passed out due to blood loss and exhaustion. Glancing at his saviour, Gray was never so thankful so see Erza standing in front of him, wearing her **Knight Armour**. "Thanks. Thought I was gonna die there."

Erza nodded. "No problem. Now sleep."

"But I'm not-" Gray was however cut off as Erza knocked him out with a punch.

**With Naruto**

Naruto and Katsumi were still clashing blades violently. Pulling her sword back, Katsumi slashed at Naruto, her blade almost lopping his head off had he not pulled his head back at the last second.

'What the hell? She got even faster?!'

Once again thrusting her blade forward, Katsumi attempted to gut him. Using his kunai, he knocked her sword to the side before kicking her back. She flew back and landed in a crouching position. Standing up, she brushed herself off before addressing him.

"You are stronger than expected. I did not think I would need to go this far against you." She said, pulling her sword to the side in the beginning of a slashing motion.

**"Flaming Crescent Moon Destroyer!" **She yelled, a large arc of fire blazing towards him at a fast pace.

'I know this is going to be a very bad idea...But I'm gonna do it anyway.' Gathering his chakra, Naruto yelled out.

**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" **The gust of wind shot forward towards the blazing crescent of fire and collided with it, causing a massive wall of fire to erupt.

On the other side of the wall, Katsumi was standing with her katana, which was now back to normal, ready, staring at the wall.

"Where did he go?" She mused, only to turn around a second later to block Naruto's wind charged kunai. The sword proved to be incredibly resilient, easily standing up to his wind charged kunai, suffering only minor scratches.

"You're good, but I'm better." Naruto then disappeared, causing Katsumi to look around, trying to sense out her opponent.

Behind the tree line, Naruto was planning his next move. 'She's pretty good. Gotta finish her fast.' It was at this moment however, that she managed to sense him. Sheathing her sword, she exploded her magic outward, a massive amount of fire coming out from her in a shock wave like manor. Naruto didn't have time to exclaim as he was engulfed by the raging flames, which then exploded in on themselves.

Katsumi was breathing hard. "I still am not proficient with the spell. At least it got him."

"Sorry, but you didn't get me. At least not all of me." Naruto said from behind her, his arm slightly scorched. Rushing to draw her sword, she was too late as Naruto rushed forward and launched a barrage of attacks at her. She tried to fight back, but after expending so much magic at once, it was a futile effort.

Naruto didn't stop. First punching her back, he chased after her, kicking and punching her in various directions. This continued on for about 10 seconds, before Katsumi suddenly raised her now unsheathed sword and flaming sword and slashed him across his chest, causing him to fly back.

'Shit...How'd she manage to pull that off? Last I checked, she was barely standing.'

"If you don't mind me asking, how'd you suddenly get your strength back?"

Katsumi stared at him for a moment before replying. "I pulled the magic I keep in my sword as back up. Enough talk, I'm ending this battle. If I may know the name of my opponent..."

"Naruto...Uzumaki Naruto. You?" He asked.

"Katsumi...Mitsuwa Katsumi. It was a pleasure fighting you. Goodbye." The second she finished speaking, she disappeared, only to reappear behind Naruto, slowly sheathing her sword.

**"Fire Sword Magic: Flames of Eternity."**

Her sword clicked into place, and blood was spilt.

Katsumi fell to the ground, a large slash from her right shoulder to left hip bleeding profusely.

"H-How?" She whispered hoarsely. "No mage...Has ever countered that attack."

Naruto smiled. "No mage huh? Too bad for you. I'm not a mage."

"Then what are you?"

"A shinobi."

**-End-**

**Holy crap! Finally done this chapter. I'm not sure how well the mission turned out, so be sure to let me know in your reviews. It was pretty tough to write this, but also pretty fun. So be sure to review.**

**I've put up a poll for what Naruto's second nature affinity should be, so please do vote on that. **

**Anyway, not much to say, other than thank you for everyone who reviewed, and thanks for the moves you sent me.**

**HokagenoNaruto, out.**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

**"Demon/Summon Speaking"**

**'****Demon Thinking****'**

Naruto ran at full speed towards his comrades, sensing them to be very low on energy and with two unfamiliar chakra signatures. As he ran, he thought of the conversation that he had with Katsumi shortly after defeating her. She had definitely left him a lot to think about.

_"A shinobi, huh?"_

_Katsumi let out a hacking cough. _

_"As in a ninja?" _

_Naruto nodded._

_"Yet, you use magic." She pointed out, her chest rising and falling unevenly._

_"I learned magic after my shinobi training." Naruto lied smoothly. Inwardly, he was weeping. 'Dammit! It sounded so cool ending the fight like that! Why'd I let her know I was a shinobi in the first place?_

_Another hacking cough. _

_"I see." _

_There was a moment of silence._

_"Why are you helping to enslave this town? You don't seem bad." He finally said. _

_Katsumi looked at him._

_"I do not understand." Naruto scratched his chin, thinking._

_"Well, I'm not sure how to describe it, but you don't seem like a regular bad guy."_

_ Katsumi blinked as she turned her head to stare at him._

_"You'll have to elaborate, I'm afraid."_

_"Well, let's see. Your really calm, but most evil people I've dealt with that have your attitude usually go insane in a fight, or have some sort of mental deficiency. Like ranting about how their lords are invincible or some random bullshit." He said, his thoughts immediately going to Gaara and the Sound ninjas that he had dealt with over the years. _

_Katsumi, despite her current injuries and position, couldn't help but sweatdrop. 'His logic is...most interesting.'_

_ "Also, you don't look like a very evil person. So I was just wondering why you're helping those guys. There's also the fact that you powered down your last attack so I wouldn't have died upon contact." He pointed out, causing Katsumi's eyes to widen slightly._

_"So you noticed that?" _

_Naruto nodded._

_"Yeah, I did. But barely though. So why don't you explain your story?" He said, sitting down cross-legged, making himself comfortable despite the ruined landscape around them. Katsumi sighed, but began talking nonetheless._

_"I was born in Rosemary Village. At the age of 8, I was abducted by dark mages and was forced to work as a slave, trying to build the R-system, in the hopes that it would one day bring back the Dark Mage, Zeref." She began. "After six years of being forced to work, I finally managed to escape with a large number of the other slaves. I was filled with pain and hate for Dark Guilds and all those who are evil. So, I swore to hunt down every Dark Guild in existence, even if it cost me my life."_

_ Naruto's eyes widened. He didn't really know what, or who Zeref was, but hearing that she was in fact a 'good guy' was slightly surprising._

_"Wait, but I don't understand. Why are you in your guild?" _

_Katsumi looked at him for a second, as if deciding if he was trustworthy or not._

_"You defeated me...But you seem honourable. I'm a fool for even considering this, much less going through with it. To answer your question, the reason I am still in this Dark Guild is because of this." Standing up painfully, she turned so her back was facing him, before dropping the top half of her kimono. Naruto's eyes widened, not because of embarrassment, but rather because of what she had just showed him._

_On her back, pulsing a blood red colour, was a seal. That wasn't the shocking shocking thing was that it was an exact copy of the Hyuuga's Caged Bird Seal._

_'Impossible! My mind has to be playing tricks on me.' Her cautiously asked her._

_"And how, pray tell, did you get it?" Katsumi turned to face him, her kimono now back in place. _

_"It was placed on me by the leader of the Dark Guild I am in, Hyuuga Kasai.'_

Naruto narrowed his eyes as remembered the guild master's supposed name. 'This is some really messed up shit. How the hell did a _freaking Hyuuga_ get here? When? No matter what happens, I need to hunt him down and find out exactly how he got here. Cause if he did, then what's stopping Madara?'

Nearing the location of his team mates, Naruto pulled out a kunai in case he was forced to fight off more enemies. Arriving, he saw Gray and Cana lying on the ground, sleeping, but otherwise unharmed. Standing in front of them were two mages. One was a female with blazing red hair and piercing eyes, wearing a breastplate and a long, blue skirt. The other, a man with dark eyes, wearing a dark blue cloak, the visible parts of his arms and legs covered with bandages. His face was fully clothed, other than this eyes. The feature that definitely set him apart was the headband that was on his headgear. Upon closer inspection however, he noticed that it was completely blank, and most likely a fashion statement.

However, Naruto put himself at ease upon noticing the Fairy Tail mark on the woman's left upper arm. He was still careful with the man, but seeing that one of his apparent comrades had no problem with him made him think that he was also a member, or at least a temporary ally.

It appeared that they had not yet noticed him, at least until the man spoke.

"Who are you?" He asked, his back still turned.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

'He sensed me? He must be a fairly strong mage to do so...Or a shinobi.' Naruto thought, still suspicious.

The woman turned towards him.

"Who are you? Another enemy to deal with?" Naruto shook his head, showing them his Fairy Tail mark.

"Nah. I'm the third member of this team."

At the sight of his Fairy Tail mark and his words, the woman eased her guard, though she still appeared slightly wary.

"I see. I am Erza Scarlet, and this is Mystogan. We were sent by the Master to back you up due to a Dark Guild being in this area. The people we just defeated were members of this guild, which only confirms my suspicions."

Naruto eyes widened upon hearing the name Erza.

'So she's the mage that ordered something similar to kunai. I gotta say, she definitely seems strong.'

"I see. I'm Naruto, the guild's newest member. Pleased to meet you." He said, extending a hand. She took it, almost crushing his hand with her grip. Letting go, she looked around her before addressing him.

"Anyway, it turns out Black Fire did not ambush you, so we can gather the defeated members and head back to Fairy Tail." She ordered them before turning around to grab the bound members of Black Fire.

Naruto's eyes widened. 'Shit! Gotta find a way to go after the Dark Guild. But what...Wait! That's it!'

"Wait! We can't leave!" He yelled at her.

Erza turned around to face him, her eyes glaring at him.

"And why's that?" She asked him, her eyes narrowed.

Naruto looked at her, his face showing nothing of his true intentions.

"We can't leave because the guild is still there to cause harm to the town. What's to stop them from coming back again?" He said.

Mystogan nodded at the logic, speaking for the first time.

"He is right, Erza-san. It will be best if we dealt with them right here so they do not cause any more trouble."Erza, seeing the logic in both their statements, nodded.

"Very well. What about Cana and Gray?" She asked as an afterthought.

"We can leave them here for now to rest after we make sure these other guys are properly bound. They look pretty tired from their fights." He said, looking at the two.

And he couldn't be more true. They both looked like absolutely crap, with various cuts and bruises across their bodies, Cana more so than Gray.

Mystogan got up and began walking. "Follow me. I have located the their guild."

After making sure that Benkei and Tetsuhiko were secured and leaving a quick note for either Cana or Gray to read when they woke, Naruto and Erza followed after the still walking Mystogan.

Feeling them beside him, he gave them a nod before sprinting, causing Naruto and Erza to do the same.

It took them very little time to arrive outside of the guild with them running at full pace after the two S-class mages noticed he was easily keeping up with them. Looking at the building, he couldn't help but notice that the building had a very dark atmosphere around it, almost the same as around the town, only more potent. Not to mention it looked fairly large, much larger than Fairy Tail.

Naruto looked at the two mages.

"So...What's the plan?"

Erza looked at him before staring at the building once more.

"Normally, I would make one. However, this Dark Guild, while known for vast numbers, is rather weak overall. Therefore, we will not need a strategy. Keep your guard up though."

Naruto sweat dropped, as Erza had pretty much just told them to screw strategy and charge in guns ablaze.

His sweatdrop only grew as Mystogan, the mage who seemed the more sensible of the two, actually agreed with the plan.

'What is with these mages. Don't they do anything with caution? Then again...I didn't either until _after_ the battle with Nagato.'

Not at all waiting for Naruto, Erza charged into the guild building, her body glowing a heavenly gold light. When it cleared, she was wearing her **Knight Armour** once more.

Staring at her, Naruto's jaw dropped. 'What the hell was that?! It was like she summoned the armour...But she didn't use any seals or anything! I really gotta find out more about the different kinds of magic in this world.'

Turning to Mystogan, he found an empty space.

"Huh. They both went on without me. Oh well, I'll send a clone in my place, and find the guild master. Oh well, makes it easier for me."

Creating a clone that rushed towards the two S-class mages, Naruto himself took a more indirect route. Sitting down, he gathered his sage chakra. A minute later, he opened his eyes.

'Let's find us a Hyuuga.'

Closing his eyes, he stretched his senses. A lot were irrelevant to the true prize to him, being magic users. Blocking them out, Naruto searched specifically for users of chakra. Luckily, he found only one, located at the very opposite end of the building. Naruto got up, and ran towards the backside of the building. It took him little time to reach there, his speed and strength still amplified by Sage Mode.

Standing in front of where he sensed the supposed Hyuuga, Naruto held out his hand, a **Rasengan **already forming. "I dunno if he's actually a Hyuuga or not...But I gotta do this." He said, thinking back to Katsumi.

_"I don't know who he is." Naruto said, though he was lying a little on his part. "But, he is doing evil things that must be stopped. I swear, I WILL free you!"_

"I barely know her...So why do I want to help her so bad?" He asked himself, unable to come up with an answer. Shaking his head slightly, he stared at the wall, his hand ready. "I'll think later. But now I have a Hyuuga to beat the shit out of. **Rasengan**!"

The **Rasengan **slammed into the wood wall, easily breaking through it. Looking up, he was met with the gaze of two white eyes staring at him. That is until he was sent flying back with a well placed palm strike to the chest, slamming him into a tree.

Naruto stood up, coughing.

'Damn. I got lucky that he didn't put chakra behind his strike.'

Looking up at the Hyuuga, he noticed he was staring at him, looking like he had seen a ghost.

"M-Minato?!"

**With Erza**

**"Guns Magic: Lightning Bullet!" **A voice yelled from behind Erza, forcing her to dodge before sending another one of her blades to take down the man.

Her opponents, while extremely weak, were numerous in number, and thus the battle was not as easy as she had expected. Of course, it was still easy for the S-class mage, just not as much as she had expected.

**"Ice God's Roar!" **A concentrated beam of ice was sent at Erza, causing her to be sent flying into the stone wall in front of her. "My my, I didn't expect Titania Erza to be here." A sugary sweet voice said, dripping in thinly veiled bloodlust.

"I'll enjoy breaking you, sweetheart."

**With Mystogan**

"Where is-HURK!"

"I don't kno-ARGH!"

"What the fu-BAM!"

The various voices crying out had become a common occurrence in the room as the Black Fire members fell to Mystogan's might, one after the other. Mystogan was fairly bored at the moment. He was barely trying, and yet they were easily falling to him. While not normally a person to desire battle, he could still get bored.

As if to answer his question, a voice sounded through the room, causing the room to still.

**"Arc of Destruction: Annihilate."**

And the room was engulfed in white light.

**With Erza **

Erza cursed as she dodged more spears of ice. "What's wrong Erza-chan?! Not having fun?"

The deranged voice of her enemy called. Erza shivered. Her opponent was a tall man, dressed in heavy black clothing, none of his body visible.

His face was hidden underneath a helmet, similar to Bixlow, only his reeked of blood and pure, unadulterated insanity.

"Die Erza-chan! **Ice God's Ice Swallow Barrage**!"

A flock of swallows flew towards Erza, intent on killing her.

"Dance, my blades!" She cried out, her swords coming to their master, blocking the swallows. The ones that managed to make it through were easily dodged.

"Oh, Erza-chan, you managed to dodge that. Well, I'll just have to try harder right?" The man giggled. "**Ice God's Scythe**!"

A scythe made of ice swung in an arc towards Erza, smashing into her, sending her flying into the wall. Standing up, Erza noticed her **Knight Armour **was mostly destroyed, barely hanging off of her, revealing much of her body to the world, but thankfully covering just enough.

"You know, Erza-chan, you're quite the looker. Maybe after I beat you, I'll have some fun with you?" The man said, chuckling insanely.

Erza instantly froze, looking at the man.

"I'm sorry, but could you repeat that?" She said, her voice deathly quiet.

"Man, you must be really stupid, Erza-chan. I said I would have some fun with you later, you dumb wh-" Before the man could say anything, he was cut off by a fist buried into his stomach, sending him flying. Erza was standing where the man used to be, her arm still extended and dressed in her **Purgatory Armour**.

Not giving him a chance to get up, Erza hammered away at his body using her mace, keeping pace with his soaring body and not letting up for a second. After five minutes, she finally allowed him to be sent away from her and straight into the ground.

The man, name still unknown, hastily got off the ground.

"That...was...good...Erza-chan...But now...you die." He said between breaths.

Standing up, he gathered an absurd amount of magic.

**"Ice God's...ROAR!" **His voice roared out, sending a huge beam of ice at Erza, engulfing the room in bright light.

When it finally cleared, Erza was nowhere in sight.

"A shame...I was hoping to have some fun with-" The man was cut off from a cry behind him.

**"Photon Slicer!" **She yelled, a beam of energy shooting at the man, completely engulfing him a bright light. When it cleared, the man was lying on his back, his body charred beyond belief from the attack, and somehow, alive.

**With Mystogan**

Mystogan eased himself off the ground, his eyes narrowed. Looking around the room, he noticed the Black Fire guild members from before were on the ground, either unconscious or dead.

'That last attack was strong...Who was behind it?'

"I see, so you survived." A deep voice said.

Mystogan raised his head to see a very tall man standing there, his arms crossed over his burly chest. He was dressed in baggy brown pants, his chest wrapped in bandages.

"Who are you?" Mystogan asked.

"I am Hidehira. I'm sorry, but I must kill you now." He said, his voice echoing through the room.

**"Arc of Destruction: Explode." **

Mystogan's danger senses went overboard, causing him to quickly jump to the side. He was not fast enough however, as the explosion beside him sent him flying.

Getting up, and shaking his head to clear it, Mystogan was given only a second of rest as the man appeared in front of him and punched him back, sending him flying once again. Hidehira appeared under Mystogan and kicked him up.

**"Arc of Destruction: Explode!"**

The very air around Mystogan exploded, sending him crashing to the ground. The man was once again upon him, beating at his body. Mystogan manages to put up a feeble defence, but it was quickly broken.

**"Arc of Destruction: Explode!"**

Mystogan jumped back and managed to avoid the explosion. Hiding himself behind one of the upturned rocks, Mystogan reviewed the battle so far.

'Why doesn't he just fire explosion after explosion and finish me off? Every time after he fires his attack, he spends 5 seconds on attacking me hand to hand before attacking me with magic again...A time limit?! It's possible...I need to test it out one more time.'

Charging out from behind the rock and straight at the man, Mystogan pulled back his fist to attack. Hidehira noticed him, and immediately was upon him.

**"Arc of Destruction: Explode!" ****  
**

Mystogan dodged to the side, but was still caught by the man's vicious attack.

'1...2...3...4...5! There!'

**"Arc of Destruction: Explode!" **

This time however, Mystogan was prepared as he dodged to the side and charged his chosen spell.

**"Five Layered Magic Circle: Sacred Song!"**

The beam fell onto Hidehira, consuming him. Not taking any chances, Mystogan attacked his fallen enemy once more.

**"Ground Shattering Wave!" **

Tendrils of dark energy surrounded Hidehira, rising up and smashing into him, knocking him further into unconsciousness. Mystogan panted harshly.

"That was certainly harder than expected."

"Mystogan, what happened?" A voice called.

He turned around, expecting an enemy, only to find Erza running to him.

"Nothing. I do believe we should find our other member and make sure he does not get himself killed."

Erza nodded. "Let's go!"

**With Naruto**

"Who are you? And how do you know dad?" Naruto asked. The mysterious Hyuuga's eyes widened once more.

"Dad?! Then, you must be Naruto!" He exclaimed. Well, as much as a Hyuuga could anyway.

Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Tell me who you are and how you know me." Naruto told him.

The Hyuuga blinked, before chuckling.

"Ah, it would seem I'm making it more confusing. My name is Hyuuga Hizashi, and 13 years ago, I awoke to find myself in this odd world."

**-End-**

**Mwahahahaha! I'm beginning to see why authors enjoy the evil cliffhanger jutsu so much. Now, I doubt any of you saw Hizashi coming, did you? And none of you could have seen it cause I thought of it on the fly. I was planning the whole evil Hyuuga hating Minato, trying to kill Naruto and using the Caged Bird Seal, but for some reason, I thought of this instead. I honestly have no idea where I'm going with this...So send me the ideas on what Hizashi should do!**

**I honestly don't know if you'll like it or not, so it was a bit of a risk on my part. If you have something against it, please don't flame. It is very annoying when people do that. **

**Moving on, I want to thank everyone who reviewed. I'm now at 50 reviews! Woot! Anyway, I hope you'll liked it.**

**HokagenoNaruto, out.**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

"Demon/Summon Speaking"

'Demon Thinking'

"I can't believe it! Wait until Neji hears about this!"

Hizashi looked confused.

"Neji? Who's that?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, immediately destroying his earlier excitement.

'Something's not right here. Hizashi wouldn't forget his son. From what Neji told me, Hizashi loved him a lot. It might be amnesia...Whatever, I'll ask him some more questions, see if he's really Hizashi.'

"Well forget about that for a minute. Why are you using the Caged Bird Seal?"

Hizashi's eyes hardened.

"They deserve it! They deserve to know my pain! They deserve to feel what I felt while they lived happy, peaceful lives!" Hizashi yelled, his eyes glittering with insanity.

'Something's really not right...Neji told me that his dad hated the main branch, but he would never wish the Caged Bird Seal on anyone. One more question, that's all I need. If he answers the next one wrong, then...' Naruto's thoughts trailed off towards the end. While not knowing him, he was still his friend's dad. He really didn't want to think about killing him.

"Hizashi...How did you die?"

"I was killed by the Caged Bird Seal." Hizashi was looking confused, and if he looked carefully, slightly nervous as well.

"I see. I'm sorry Hizashi."

"For what?"

Naruto smiled, but it was more of a sad smile.

"For killing you."

A Naruto appeared behind Hizashi, and sent a **Rasengan **into his back, sending him flying.

The dust cleared, revealing Hizashi on his knees.

"What is the meaning of this Naruto?"

"Because you're not Hizashi! Hyuuga Hizashi died years ago!"

Hizashi stared at him, before he chuckled menacingly.

"So you figured it out. What gave it away?"

"It was more of a hunch than anything, cause Hizashi's body is supposed to be in Kumo. But, you know what? If you were Hizashi, then you never would've forgotten Neji! You never would have forgotten your son!" Naruto growled.

"Who are you, really? Tell me before I rip you apart!"

'Hizashi' chuckled once more, before his face morphed into the face of his father, the Yondaime Hokage.

"Who knows who I am?"

Naruto continued to stare in shock as his face continued to morph, changing into the faces of people he knew. Tazuna, Lee, Sakura, Kakashi, Teuchi, Ayame, the Sandaime and...Sasuke.

Then, his body began changing, looking like an experiment done by Orochimaru. The faces merged into the vaguely humanoid body, deforming and reforming as they went.

**"Who knows who I am, Naruto?"**

It had stopped transforming now, and it was hideous. Jagged horns jutted out from it's head. It's face was constantly changing, but the sneer came with each new face. It's arms were reptilian, with three claws for fingers. It's legs appeared to be made of steel, shaped to be a humans leg. It's body was pitch black, almost like it had burned for eternity. Upon his back were two massive wings, appearing like a bats, with a wingspan of 50 feet. Oh, did I forget to mention that he was freaking huge as hell?

"Who are you? What are you?"

The thing chuckled.

**"I am the fifth demon of the black mage, Zeref! I am Enceladus! I know all, little shinobi."**

'ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! A FREAKING DEMON?!'

It was safe to say that Naruto was freaking out.

"How do you know me? Where I'm from? Tell me!"

**"I sensed you the minute you stepped foot in this world. I was curious, it had been too long since a shinobi stepped foot in the land of magic. So I sought you out. I invaded you're mind while you slept and I realized that you are interesting, and with the Kyuubi of all beings sealed in you, you will surely keep me well feed for generations to come! As for how I know of the Caged Bird Seal, which you were undoubtedly going to ask, I will answer your question. Do not be so arrogant to presume that you are the first shinobi to come by these lands. A Hyuuga came by a fifteen years ago. I ate him, of course, giving me all his knowledge. It gave me this beautiful little seal here. Amazing, isn't it?"**

"What do you mean, the Kyuubi would feed you for years to come?"

Enceladus looked at him, before bursting into laughter.

**"Humans are such fools. The Kyuubi is a being of great power, being a biju. I could never hope to beat him in direct combat. I am not even close to a thousandth of his power! But then I stumbled upon you. The kid with the Kyuubi sealed in him, helpless to my power. Helpless to my hunger!"**

Inside of him, Naruto felt of Kyuubi's white hot rage, daring to consume the whole world in it's eternal hatred.

**'This _lesser _demon dares presume I am helpless! Kill him, even if it's the last thing you do!' **Kyuubi's voice raged in his mind.

Naruto ignored him, facing his enemy.

"I don't really know the hell you're talking about, but I want answers! How am I gonna remove the Caged Bird Seal from Katsumi? How am I gonna get back to my own world?"

**"I'll tell you. That is if you manage to defeat me. And I assure you human, you won't even touch me."**

Naruto narrowed his eyes, his chakra spiking.

"If that's the way you wanna do it, then that's the way we'll do it!" He roared, clones forming around him.

**"HAHAH-"**

Enceladus began laughing, only to be cut off by a blow from behind.

**"Rasengan!"**

Enceladus crashed into the ground, his skin bleeding yellow, borderline golden blood. Naruto grinned wildly.

"Heh, you suck! I just touched you retard!"

Enceladus got up, his glare murderous.

**"That's it human. You're going to die now! Let me explain my powers a bit! I can use any attack that I've seen being used by the person who's memories I've invaded! You know what that means?! All your attacks, useless!" **Enceladus roared.

Hearing what his magic was, Naruto's eyes widened.

'That means...He can use any jutsu I can use! NO! There must be some sort of weakness, some sort of flaw in this! He didn't know that Hizashi was Neji's father! But, he still knew that the Yondaime was my dad. I need to figure out his magic!'

BOOM!

Naruto was sent flying into a tree twenty metres away, easily breaking it and cracking the rock behind it.

**"Hah! You claim to beat me, but are already down! Weakling!"**

Naruto stood shakily. "Shit. That freaking hurt! If I wasn't in Sage Mode I would've broken at least a couple ribs." Speaking of Sage Mode, Naruto noticed that it had run out from the last impact.

'Great. Just freaking great.'

Before Naruto could say anything more, he was sent flying by a massive fist. The dust cleared, revealing a log where Naruto should have been.

**"Rasengan Barrage!"**

The ground around Enceladus exploded, revealing many clones of Naruto flying at him, **Rasengans **in their hands and ready to kill. Enceladus cursed, bringing his arms up to cover his face.

The clones met Enceladus, causing a massive explosion. Enceladus was revealed to be covered in some minor scorch marks, most likely from the explosion, but otherwise fine.

**"You'll have to try harder human. That level of attack can't even touch me!"**

Naruto felt lost.

'What the hell should I do?' He wondered. Thinking back to the various times he had fought demons or anything huge, he smirked at the idea that came to mind.

Creating clones, he ran towards Enceladus, who was busy sweeping up his other remaining clones from earlier. While his clones engaged Enceladus, Naruto discretely snuck around Enceladus.

"Hehe. I think I'm gonna enjoy this."

Looking up at his target, Naruto grinned madly. Jumping up, Naruto shoved a kunai up Enceladus's...ass? Yup, his ass.

Enceladus roared in pain, thrashing about, causing Naruto to be thrown off. He turned to him, intent on crushing him, only to find Naruto still grinning like a madman.

"Mahalo, motherfu-"

BOOM!

The kunai exploded violently, causing Enceladus to drop to his knees.

**-Scene-**

All the way in Suna, Gaara was relaxing when he felt phantom pains coming from his lower regions.

'Why do I have the feeling that I want to kill Uzumaki all off a sudden? Odd...'

******-Scene-**

"It's not over yet!" Naruto roared, creating a thousand clones. They ran at the fallen Enceladus, their combined force kicking him into the air. Naruto jumped above Enceladus along with multiple other clones, now in Sage Mode.

**"Uzumaki Naruto Chou Odama Rasengan Barrage!"**

The attacks collided with Enceladus, deforming his skin and sending him into the ground, creating a deep crater from the impact.

"How's that for an attack!" Naruto said, striking a vistory pose.

**"You've made me very mad!" **Enceladus's voice roared, causing Naruto to halt his celebration. Naruto looked at Enceladus, who was slowly getting up, his skin healing rapidly. Enceladus gave one final roar as he stood up fully, his arms now outstretched.

**"I've been going easy on you human. But no longer. I've seen your memories! That's not a Rasengan! This is!"**

Enceladus's magic spiked, causing the wind to pick up around him. In his hand, slowly but surely, a **Rasengan **was forming. Naruto stared, wide eyed.

'What is he? He just took at least ten **Chou Odama Rasengans **head on and got back up.'

The **Rasengan **was now fully formed, glowing with power. Enceladus laughed menacingly as he thrust it towards Naruto, who wouldn't be able to dodge due to the thing sheer size.

'Is this the end?'

His collapsed on his knees.

'Is it too late?'

He bowed his head, closing his eyes, awaiting his death.

'I'm sorry everyone. Sakura, Kakashi-Sensei, Neji, Lee, Sasuke, everyone and...Katsumi.'

Why is she in my thoughts? Who is she again?

Naruto's eyes snapped open.

"What the fuck am I doing here, waiting to die?! I promised I would free her and I will! I'll beat this guy, and get my answers! I'll go back to the Elemental Nations, and stop Akatsuki!"

He looked at the **Rasengan **racing towards him, panicking a bit.

'What am I gonna do, what am I gonna do?!'

He looked at the giant ball of doom once more, before smirking at what he saw. Somewhere in his mind, the last dregs of logic and common sense died as Naruto spread his arms wide, as if accepting death.

Erza and Mystogan, who had arrived at the scene, could only watch their comrade seemingly lose his mind.

"What is he doing?! He'll die if he gets hit!"

The **Rasengan **neared him.

10 metres.

5 metres.

3 metres.

2 metres.

1 metre.

Exactly 1 inch from Naruto's face, the **Rasengan **started shrinking rapidly and fizzed out of existence.

Enceladus stood, dumbfounded, as he stared at his now empty hand.

**"What did you do?!"**

"I didn't do anything. It was all you. Even though you saw the attack, you couldn't understand the theory behind it on the first try!"

Naruto paused, taking a deep breath.

"You never finished looking through my memories did you? You knew Hizashi was killed, but never knew Neji was his father. But you still saw me learning Rasengan. You also knew the fourth was my dad. So, I think that your weakness is that you can't access memories that people hold truly dear. Plus, I have a feeling you never got through them all."

Enceladus stared at him.

**"You are smart. Very smart. The truth is I don't know why I couldn't get that information. I was blocked off by something, but I do not know what. But it does not matter. I laid out my plan very carefully, Naruto! I came to this guild, implanting fake memories to make them believe their master is Hyuuga Kasai, rather than the bumbling fool I killed. I applied the Caged Bird Seal to the girl, making her think that she had it for months now. And you know why? To kill you Naruto! I've come too far to be stopped. I'll kill you and devour your soul, along with Kyuubi's!"**

Enceladus got up once more, sluggishly throwing a punch, only to freeze.

**"I-impossible."**

Was all Enceladus said before collapsing to the ground, his body paralyzed.

**"H-how?!"**

"It's because Rasengan isn't just a strong attack that sends my opponents flying. It damages their insides as well. You took ten Chou Odama Rasengan point blank. You couldn't have made it out." Naruto said, his eyes hard.

'Thank Kami! I thought he survived those!'

"Now tell me. How can I get back to my world? I beat you, as part of our deal."

Enceladus chuckled.

**"Foolish human. You can never get back to your world without the same process by which you came to this one!"**

Naruto froze.

"No! You're lying!"

**"Why would I lie? It was part of a deal made on my honour. But, I won't let you learn anymore! Goodbye, Naruto! May you forever burn in the pits of hell!"**

Enceladus started glowly brightly, his body steaming. It looked painful, but he laughed insanely.

**"I will always have the last laugh!"**

He continued laughing as his body was consumed by fire, leaving nothing behind.

Naruto let out a sigh.

'I was hoping to get more. But at least he gave me something. I need to find out what that thing was called. But I need someone smart, someone who might've seen it. Someone like...Master Makarov. Dammit.'

"I was sure I was gonna die there for sure." Naruto exclaimed.

"We did, too, Uzumaki. Honestly! What were you thinking?"

Naruto whipped around to find Erza and Mystogan behind him, looking concerned.

"That was an impressive battle." Mystogan said.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, listening to Erza go on about how dangerous it was, but smiling nonetheless.

**-Scene-**

Naruto stretched as he got up. It had been a couple days since the battle, and they were recuperating in the town. They would leave soon, since Gray and Cana were almost fully healed.

After the battle, they had rounded up their prisoners and team mates from their respective battlefields and headed immediately to the town for medical attention. The town was overjoyed to see their loved ones and to know that they were now free. The townsfolk raided all their remaining food supplies and proceed to throw a massive celebration, one that was still raging.

Thinking back to his battle, he remembered something that Enceladus had said.

** '_The truth is I don't know why I couldn't get that information. I was blocked off by something.'_**

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he remembered that little tidbit of information. 'Blocked off, huh? The only thing in my mind other than me is...Kyuubi! That bastard...'

Naruto closed his eyes. He hadn't really done this recently, but after going there so many times, he was pretty sure he could get there pretty easy. He concentrated, and a minute later he opened his eyes to view the familiar sewer that was his mindscape. In front of him was a giant cage, with two giant red eyes glaring at him from behind the bars.

"You blocked off certain memories from Enceladus didn't you?" Naruto said without hesitation.

The Kyuubi grinned.

**"I'm surprised you got it, human. You are correct, I did block him off from certain parts of your memory."**

"Why?"

**"Simply put, I was bored. With the fourth once more locking me in this infernal cage, I haven't been able to do much. So, when I sensed a lesser demon appearing, I allowed him views of some of your memories while blocking off others. I also altered some memories he saw. He would without a doubt try to kill you, and ruining his plan brought me great amusement. Lesser demons are very fun to mess with."**

Naruto's eyes glared into Kyuubi's own.

"Well did I bring you enough 'amusement'?" He asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he said amusement.

**"As a matter of fact, you did. I enjoyed your fight, though you froze like a buffoon near the end. But you managed to bring yourself out of whatever stupor you were in, so I will let it pass. Good job on coming here on your own; I had planned to bring you here tonight."**

"For what purpose?" Naruto asked, scowling slightly at the mention of his screw up.

**"Why, for a little deal of course."**

Naruto's eyes hardened while Kyuubi grinned ferally.

"Oh? Tell me this deal of yours. If I don't like where this is going, then I'll leave. At the moment, my trust in you is even lower than before, Kyuubi, so your deal better not be trying to get free again."

The Kyuubi chuckled, Naruto's words amusing him greatly.

**"Of course, of course. To put it simply, I want out." **Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but Kyuubi cut him off. **"But, I know I will not get that, at least not immediately. So this is the deal. I will allow you access to my chakra."**

Naruto sensed a big 'but' coming.

**"You will only use it for strong opponents, and in exchange I want access to your senses so I can have some form of entertainment in this miserable hell hole of a prison."**

Naruto thought over the deal for a minute, before sighing.

"There's something your not telling me. You would never give me you're power without some sort of catch. So tell me, what is it?"

The Kyuubi's grin got wider.

**"Smart. I want you to make no mistake, you'll have access to my power, but you'll have to gain control of it. If given the chance, I will take over your body and roam this world once more."**

"Well, at least your honest about it. Why should I use you're power? Every time I have, all it does is hurt the people close to me!"Naruto yelled towards the end.

The Kyuubi scowled heavily.

**"Take a look at yourself boy! You always use my power because you are too damn weak to beat your opponents on your own. You always need people sacrificing themselves for _you_! Even your battle with Nagato, you could do nothing without me! This 'demon' you've beaten was weak, not even close to Nagato! How are you going to stop Madara, if you're so damn weak!"**

"Madara... This is what this is about isn't it? What are you not telling me?"

The Kyuubi looked away before looking back at Naruto, sighing heavily.

**"Madara will come here eventually. I know that. When he does, I'll be your only option to be powerful enough to defeat him. If he captures you, then it will not be just me dying. It'll be the whole world, Naruto. I'm part of a demon called the Juubi. If the nine Biju are gathered and combined into the Juubi once more, no one will be able to stop it. No one. The world will end, but I'll be damned if I die. So train, use my power, grow stronger!"**

"...No."

**"What do you mean 'no'?"**

"It means what it does Kyuubi." Naruto glared at Kyuubi.

"I refuse your deal! I'll grow strong, stronger than even this Juubi you're scared of! I'll grow strong, and take your power! I'll defeat you, Madara, Akatsuki, the Juubi! Hell, I'll defeat Kami if I have to! But I will protect everyone!"

Naruto glared into Kyuubi's eyes, daring him to challenge him. Kyuubi stared at Naruto, before something caught his eye. Standing behind Naruto was the Rikudo Sennin, smiling at Kyuubi. Kyuubi's eyes went wide.

**'Rikudo-Ojisan.'**

**'Kurama, you have grown so much since I last left you. He is the one, Kurama. Protect him until he is ready, Kurama. I'm counting on you.' **

Kyuubi stared at him, his eyes widening at every word.

**'I will Ojisan, I swear it.'**

Kyuubi chuckled. The chuckle soon became full blown laughter. Naruto stared at him, confused.

"Oi, what's up with you?"

The Kyuubi grinned menacingly.

**"So you will beat me, eh? Then come, Naruto, I will await you. Open my cage if you dare! I will defeat you, and I will be free!"**

Naruto didn't say anything, merely grinning, as he left.

Kyuubi let out a heavy sigh.

**"For him to be the actual one...Rikudo-Oji really left me with a mess to deal with. But, if he really is 'him', then I must make him strong. So strong, that the heavens themselves shall tremble at his name!"**

**-End-**

**And done! I was gonna write more, like Naruto talking so Makarov and all that, but I decided to let it go. So what is the 'one' that Kyuubi and the Rikudo Sennin were referring too? Well, I'll tell you cause it's actually nothing special. They were simply referring to him being the Child of Prophecy. Anyway, before you guys rage that Naruto shouldn't have froze in the fight, this is my response. If you saw one of your techniques being used against you except 10 times larger than the biggest you can make it, I'm pretty sure you would freeze to. Plus it added some nice drama. **

**And haha! It wasn't Hizashi! Bakayaro! He's dead! I do apologize if people were actually looking forward to him being in this fic, but seriously, it's unrealistic. Hizashi is dead, his body decaying in Kumo, so unfortunately, no Hizashi. So Madara will come, but who knows when? Take a wild guess.**

**Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll be attempting to make them longer in the future, so yeah! Oh and I'm at 65 reviews! Yay! Let's get it to a hundred real fast!**

**HokagenoNaruto, out.**


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

"Demon/Summon Speaking"

'Demon Thinking'

* * *

"So, what you're telling me is that you faced a demon of Zeref and one of Black Fire's mages and beat them?"

Naruto nodded in confirmation, prompting Makarov to continue.

"And said Black Fire mage was controlled against her will and is standing beside you, wanting to join Fairy Tail? She's also Erza's surrogate older sister?"

Another silent nod, this time with Erza joining in as well.

Makarov stared at the two.

"I'm getting too old for this shit."

**-Scene-**

And so, Katsumi was enlisted as yet another member of Fiore's Number One guild, Fairy tail. Erza had been overjoyed, dragging Katsumi to Kami knows where to catch up.

'Another day, another mission that almost resulted in my horrible death.'

Sighing, Naruto calmly watched the members of Fairy Tail partying like no tomorrow.

"Aren't you going to join in?"

Naruto lazily turned his head to see Mirajane smiling at him.

"Nah. I'm tired, and need sleep. I'm just about to head down to the basement to pass out."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Master wanted to talk to you about something in his office." She told him, causing Naruto to nod, slightly disappointed.

"Right. I'll head over right now."

'...I knew I wasn't lucky enough for him to not call me to explain my battle or something.'

**-Scene-**

"So what did you need me for?" Naruto asked as he entered the office, closing the door behind him.

Makarov looked at him, his gaze sharp.

"You've caused quite a bit of trouble, you know?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow questioningly, causing Makarov to continue. "You pretty much defeated Enceladus, a demon of Zeref of all things, and that's prompting quite a commotion with the magic council."

Naruto looked at Makarov, keeping his face blank, waiting for him to elaborate further.

'Of course, I just had to do something big.'

"It's not really a cause for concern, but they want you to report to the Magic Council in Era and recount your mission in a month's time." Naruto let out a breath that he didn't notice he had been holding.

'I was expecting something so much worse. But I should probably be careful while I'm there. Who knows what else they might ask. I wonder why their giving me a month?'

"Oh well, okay. Anything else you need?"

Makarov shook his head.

"Well then, I'll be heading out to pass out in the basement. Ciao." Naruto promptly turned and left.

'Because everything going the way I planned it, would be too freaking mainstream.'

**-Scene-**

Naruto woke up late for a shinobi. Looking at the alarm clock beside his makeshift bed, he noticed that it was nine o'clock. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he got up and headed towards the showers at a brisk pace, intent on quickly heading out and training like crazy.

Fifteen minutes later, he was heading up the stairs towards the main hall, gathering his thoughts.

'I need to get better. Madara is going to find this place soon and when he does, I'll have to fight him. For that, I need Kyuubi's chakra. To get that, I need to beat Kyuubi...Someone up there really freaking hates me.'

"Where are you going?" A feminine, yet dignified voice called from behind him, pulling Naruto from his thoughts.

Looking up, he noticed Katsumi behind him, dressed in her usual attire with the exception of wearing athletic pants with a kimono top rather than a full kimono.

"Just heading out to train a bit. How come?"

Katsumi stared at him curiously.

"You seem plenty strong already. What reason would you have to train even more?"

Naruto thought over her question.

"Well, you can never be too strong. And I wanna get stronger so that I can protect my precious people better." Katsumi nodded, thought she still looked slightly confused.

"Well then, I'll train with you." Katsumi stared at him, daring him to deny her.

Naruto opened his mouth to deny her. That is, until he saw the look on her face, causing him to nod mutely.

'I've known Sakura-chan long enough to know what that look means.'

**-Scene-**

Naruto led Katsumi towards a different clearing from the one he had discovered and used earlier. Looking around to survey the area, Naruto nodded to himself, and created a **Shadow Clone**, overloading it with chakra. Giving it a look, the clone nodded to it's creator, understanding it's task.

'This way, I'll be able to keep training with **Wind Chakra **and still be able to train with Katsumi.'

Looking back at her, he noticed that she was slightly slack-jawed at the sight of the clone. Before she could ask, Naruto took it upon himself to explain.

"It's one of my signature jut-magic. It was the first one I learned. And yes, that is a solid clone." At the explanation, Katsumi gathered herself and nodded.

"I see. Anyway, what is our plan for today?"

Naruto scratched his chin. "Well, to be honest, I wasn't really expecting you to come along, so I guess doing some warm up stretches and exercises, and then have a couple of hand to hand spars, no magic."

Katsumi nodded her consent.

"Very well. Whenever you're ready."

**-Scene-**

Three long, intense hours of training later, Naruto and Katsumi were both sweating heavily and attempting to catch their breaths. Gulping in precious, and much needed air, Naruto managed to get enough into his lungs to formulate sentences.

"It's so...much better...training...with another...person." He managed to get out between pants. Katsumi nodded tiredly, her chest rising and falling as she lay on the ground, resting.

"That was...certainly...very...strenuous."

Naruto nodded, going over the past three hours in his head. After doing about a half hour of stretching, they had proceeded with an hour of doing various exercises. The rest of the time was spent sparring.

'She's good with that sword of hers. I'm pretty sure she was holding back when we fought. That sword is..._scary_.'

Naruto was slightly traumatized by the amount of times he had almost been horribly decapitated by that sword.

**'Indeed it is kit.'**

Naruto blinked. 'Kyuubi?'

**'No kit. The other giant, 100 foot tall, nine-tailed fox inside your head. Who else?' **Kyuubi said, his voice overflowing with sarcasm.

Naruto scowled mentally. 'What do you want? And how are you talking to me?'

**'Well, I only recently found out I could talk to you like this. Anyway, I noticed you fighting the vixen, so I wanted to suggest that you learn how to use a sword from her.'**

'Why?'

Naruto couldn't see Kyuubi, but he could practically feel the 'You're an idiot' look that Kyuubi was giving him.

**'Kid, you're have a freaking Wind affinity. Which means you can sharpen your weapons so they can cut through pretty much anything. Having a sword to channel chakra through would be much more powerful than your pathetic kunai. Besides, that way, when we fight, you might be able to do some halfway decent damage."**

'Go screw yourself, fuzzy. And fine, I'll ask her.'

"-ruto. Naruto." Naruto blinked, seeing Katsumi waving her hand in front of his face.

"Huh? I mean sorry, just zoned out a bit. What were you saying?"

"It is of no consequence. I was suggesting that we head back to the guild to get something to eat."

"Yeah, sure. Let's go."

Picking himself painfully off the ground, he held out a hand for Katsumi to take. Katsumi took it graciously, smirking ever so slightly. "Thank you, kind sir."

Naruto grinned in response, otherwise remaining silent. Still grinning, the mage and the shinobi began walking back towards Fairy Tail. Deciding that now would be the best time, Naruto cleared his throat and spoke.

"I was wondering if you could teach me how to use a sword?"

Katsumi looked at him, surprised. "What reason would you have to wield a sword?"

"Well, it's actually for a magic I'm working on. I can use my kunai, but using a sword would make it much more effective. And you seem like you know what you're doing in terms of using a sword, so you're kinda the best person for me to ask."

"I suppose I can teach you."

Naruto grinned widely.

"But, I want you to teach me something in return."

Naruto frowned slightly. 'And here I was hoping she would be nice and just teach me. What can I even teach her? Other than some more taijutsu, and maybe some weapons training, not much really. Oh well, I'll offer and hopefully she'll agree.'

"Well, the only thing I can teach you is more about hand to hand combat, since I noticed yours was a little rusty. And I also make a good sparring partner." Katsumi stared at him, causing him to wonder if she would agree or not. Finally, she inclined her head ever so slightly.

"That seems beneficial. Very well. I will teach you the way of the sword, and you help me with my hand to hand. Same time tomorrow?" Naruto let out a hidden breath of relief.

"Sweet! And, uh, yeah, that sounds good."

"But you will have to buy your own sword. We'll use wooden swords in the meantime for practice though." Naruto nodded his understanding.

"Yeah, no problem. Let's hurry up and go back now, cause I'm really hungry."

**-Scene-**

Arriving back at the guild, the time now 12:30, they both noticed that the guild members were engaged in a brawl. Naruto, having seen this before, just sweat dropped and opted to let them deal with it. Katsumi, still being new, was staring at the guild members with a raised eyebrow. Seeing this, Naruto spoke up.

"Don't worry, they do this all the time. It's all frie-" Naruto was cut off by a random mug sailing through the air and hitting him upside the head. His eye twitching, he turned to face the guild. Only for Gray to come sailing out of nowhere and land on him. Pushing him aside, Naruto was punched in the face by Natsu, who had been aiming for Gray. Naruto developed a tick mark above his eye.

"Oh, sorry Naruto, didn't see you the-"

"YOU'RE ALL SO FREAKING DEAD!"

Punching Natsu into the ground, he then picked him up by his leg and started spinning him around. With a feral roar, he jumped into the fray, using Natsu to knock around Fairy Tail members left and right. Naruto glanced down at Natsu momentarily, noticing that he was unconscious. Deciding to let the kid off the hook, he spun him on final time, and flung him at Loke, who was knocked unconscious by the flying Natsu.

Grinning viciously, Naruto picked up two random guild members, and charged once more, causing mass amounts of collateral damage to the guild wherever he went.

Half an hour later, the unconscious guild members, which was the whole guild, bar Naruto, Katsumi, and Mirajane, were stacked in a massive pile, with Naruto sitting at the top, picking at his fingernails nonchalantly. Katsumi gazed at him with severe amusement.

"Did you really have to go that far?"

Naruto whistled innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Katsumi shook her head, exasperated. Mirajane giggled slightly, before frowning.

"Master's not going to be happy at the amount of damage we did to the guild when he gets back." Looking around the guild, Mirajane noted that Naruto had done more damage than the whole guild put together.

"Oh come on, how bad will it be?"

As if to answer his question, Makarov walked into the guild.

"Hey everyo-" Makarov paused, looking around the guild, nodding to himself. Naruto eyed him, slightly nervous.

"I see, so that's what happened. If you'll excuse me, I'll start hyperventilating in that corner over there." Makarov walked over to the corner, and sat down, hugging his knees, and began rocking back and forth, talking to himself.

"That's right, just a dream. A really bad dream. I'll wake up really soon."

Naruto sweat dropped.

"Well, I stand corrected."

**-Scene-**

A few hours later, when everyone had woke up, and Makarov had finally accepted reality, Naruto was finally sitting down, eating some ramen.

'Well, that was fun. I should probably go grab a job or something. But something a little easier, and more solo.'

Naruto paused in his thoughts, feeling his clones dispelling themselves.

'Huh. What do you know? Turns out I finally managed to learn those other jutsus.'

Grinning a bit at his accomplishment, Naruto downed the rest of the broth, and headed towards the job board. Arriving, he noticed Katsumi there, looking over the jobs.

"Hey Katsumi." Spinning around, startled, Katsumi noticed that it was just Naruto.

"Oh, hello Naruto. Coming for a job?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I was getting pretty bored, and I need the money since I can't keep bunking in the guild basement. Plus, it's not really the most comfortable thing."

"I see. If you don't mind, could you take a job with me?" Naruto blinked.

"Um, yeah sure, why not? Which one?"

"Why don't you choose?"

Nodding, Naruto looked over the job board, trying to find a good job. Finding one, he showed it to Katsumi.

"How about this one? It's for demolishing a castle, and the pay is 400 000 Jewels. We can split, 200 000 each."

"Alright then. I will meet you tomorrow morning at the same time. We can go after we train."

"Alright, see you there."

**-Scene-**

At nine o'clock, Naruto met with Katsumi again. Nodding to her, they began walking to the clearing they were at yesterday. Glancing at her, Naruto noticed that she was carrying a duffel bag, and was also dressed differently from yesterday. She was now wearing a t-shirt, with a unzipped hoodie over top, revealing small amounts of cleavage. Naruto tore his eyes away from her at his last thought.

'Stupid ass Ero-Sennin. Even after dying, he's still out for me.'

Arriving at the middle of the field, Katsumi dropped her bag and pulled out two objects. Squinting, Naruto noticed that they were bokken, or wooden practice swords.

Katsumi tossed one to Naruto, who caught it with little effort, only for his arms to drop at the weight.

"What the hell?! Why the hell does it weigh so much?!"

Katsumi smirked a bit as he continued to rant, before deciding to tell him. "There's Gravity Runes on those swords to increase strength and speed. Since you were as strong as me in our fight, I put the settings to level 5, out of ten levels in total."

Naruto groaned. "I'm gonna hate this aren't I?"

Katsumi smirked again, giving Naruto all the answer he needed.

"Well shit."

**-Scene-**

Naruto and Katsumi dragged themselves back to the guild to grab their things. While they had worked on swordsmanship for the first half, which involved utter torture for Naruto, they had done hand to hand for the second half, which Naruto severely enjoyed. He had made it absolute hell on Katsumi, going all out and using all sorts of tricks to confuse her.

Long story short, both were dead tired from training, but feeling rather satisfied as well. Katsumi because she felt that she had improved much in their short time training, and Naruto because his clones had been working on his wind affinity and improved it to battle worthy levels. He was still far from what Asuma-Sensei's level had been, but he could now boast to be as good as Sora had since they last met.

Upon walking into the guild, he and Katsumi were immediately called over by Mirajane.

"Hey, Mira! What's up?"

"Nothing much. I was just wondering where you and Katsumi disappear off to every morning. Is there something between you two?" Mira asked him, her eyes twinkling suggestively. Naruto furiously waved his hands in front of himself.

"No! We just go to train! Right, Katsumi?"

"That is correct, Mirajane-San."

Mirajane nodded. "I see. Well, what can I get you two?"

"You already know for me Mira! RAMEN!"

"And you, Katsumi?"

"I'll take ramen as well."

Mirajane disappeared into the kitchen. A couple minutes later, two steaming hot bowls of ramen were placed in front of them. Being extremely tired and exhausted, the two dug into their meal voraciously.

**-Scene-**

Naruto rolled his shoulders as he sat in the train that was taking them to a town near the castle. It had been about four hours into the trip, and Katsumi had long since fallen asleep in the seat in front of him. According to the brochure provided, they were nearing the town of Thela, which was about a mile from the castle.

A half hour later, an attendant came by to tell him that they were almost at Thela, and that he should prepare to get off the train. Nodding, he dismissed the attendant, before turning back to the sleeping Katsumi. Reaching a hand out, he shook her shoulder a bit.

"Katsumi, wake up, we're almost-"

BAM!

CRACK!

"Ow, fuck!"

Katsumi yawned cutely as she awoke from her deep sleep.

"Where did Naruto go?"

As if to answer her question, a groan sounded from beneath her. Blinking, she looked down to see Naruto on the ground holding his head painfully, the table in between the two seats broken.

"What happened?" She asked while sweat dropping.

"I was waking you up, and then suddenly my head is bursting with pain and the tables broken. I think you punched me," He said, causing her sweat drop to increase further while looking slightly sheepish.

"Oh, sorry about that. In my years of hunting Dark Guilds, I learned to defend myself even in my sleep."

Naruto nodded at the answer, his head now magically healed. "That makes sense. But you shouldn't have that instinct around allies, cause comrades don't hurt each other." Turning to her, he noticed her staring at him.

"What?"

She pointed to his head. "Just ten seconds ago you were clutching your head in extreme pain, and now you're just magically healed?"

Naruto shrugged. "I heal fast," He said, as if that explained everything. Katsumi shook her head.

"Whatever. Let's just go to the town now, before they notice we broke the table."

"Um, but shouldn't we pay?"

"No. Now let's go," Katsumi answered, grabbing his arm and throwing him out the window. Throwing some jewels onto the broken table, she jumped out after him. Unfortunately, her foot slipped while jumping, causing her to flail her arms as she fell down. Cursing silently, Naruto jumped and caught her mid-air, hitting the ground in a roll. When all was said and done, Katsumi was lying on top of him, straddling him.

"Thank you," She said, breathing heavily, before blushing suddenly.

"What's wrong, you getting a bit red." She didn't answer, instead opting to point down. Looking down, Naruto noticed the position they were in before also blushing.

"Oh. _Oh_!"

Scrambling off him, Katsumi looked away, still blushing. Naruto looked in the other direction, not meeting her eyes. After an awkward silence, she finally spoke.

"We should, um, go to the town and complete our job."

Naruto grunted, choosing to not say anything.

**-Scene-**

Glancing at the sign of Thela, Naruto noticed it was nothing like the town from his previous mission. Unlike the other town, which had an oppressive feeling hanging over it, this one seemed to be bustling with life, and overflowing with happiness. Merchants were manning the stalls, with townsfolk wandering about, looking through the variety of things available.

"Thela is one of the larger merchant towns in Fiore. Merchants come here a lot to sell their wares, making it a fairly popular place, and also a tourist attraction," Katsumi read out loud from her brochure.

"I wonder if we can stay a while after completing the job to go shopping?" She mused, looking at Naruto expectantly. "Right?"

Naruto nodded. "Alright. I wanted to see if I can get some books on magic here anyway."

Katsumi nodded to him. "Thank you. We should probably see the mayor anyway."

Nodding, Naruto motioned for her to lead the way, which she did. A few minutes later, they were standing outside the Town Hall of Thela, which was bursting with people moving to and from the hall, busy with work.

Walking inside, they noticed a receptionist furiously scribbling something on paper. Noticing them, she glanced up.

"Oh! Hello. How may I help you?"

"We would like to see the mayor. We are mages from Fairy Tail, here on a job request."

Looking at another paper, she once more turned to them, handing them a small rectangular card. "Certainly. The mayor is free at the moment, so you may go right in. Just insert this into the door when he permits you to enter. His office is the centre room on the top floor."

Katsumi nodded to her. "Thank you."

Walking towards the stairs, Naruto and Katsumi took in the sights around them. There were many paintings decorating the walls, portraying a variety of things. Some seemed to be portraits of people. 'Probably the previous mayors,' Naruto inferred. Others were depictions of various sceneries, from the city they were in to beautiful landscapes.

"Quite lovely, aren't they?"

Naruto and Katsumi spun around to see a jolly looking old man smiling at them. The man laughed joyously. "Please, forgive me. I appear to have startled you."

Katsumi just shook her head. "It is no problem. May I ask who you are?"

The man smiled more, his eyes twinkling. "I'm Black. Don Black, mayor of Thela." As soon as he said this, Naruto and Katsumi both straightened. Noticing this, Don waved his hand casually.

"Now now. No need for such seriousness. You must be the mages I hired for the castle, correct?" Naruto and Katsumi nodded.

"Wonderful! Please, come inside my office, and we will discuss the details, though there is not much to be discussed."

**-Scene-**

Seating himself, the mayor gestured for Naruto and Katsumi to sit as well.

"Now, as you know, your job is to destroy an old castle. It is rather ancient, and the stone making it up is special. It attracts monsters to it after a certain time of being in existence. It is reaching the age, and the Magic Council requested we destroy it and send them the fragments for them to put them into use. So, your job is to simply destroy the castle. We will gather the fragments ourselves, so you do not need to worry about that."

Naruto nodded. "Alright. Is it alright if we do it tomorrow? I need some time to prepare the materials that I'll need. Plus, Katsumi wanted to go shopping for a bit and I wanted to look for some magic stores."

The mayor nodded. "Certainly. Take your time with your date."

Naruto and Katsumi blushed. "He's/She's not my date!" The mayor chuckled, his eyes twinkling.

"If you say so. But when you get as old as me, you'll notice these things a lot. Anyway, I have took the liberty to book you a hotel to stay in, called the Golden Star, under the name Black." Naruto and Katsumi both nodded stiffly, taking their leave quickly.

"Ah, to be young again."

**-Scene-**

After exiting the building, Naruto and Katsumi chose to go their separate ways. Katsumi merely wandered off, saying that she wanted to look at the various stores and keep an eye out for deals, leaving Naruto to look for a magic shop. They had agreed to meet at eight o'clock, which left Naruto with 2 hours to do, well, whatever. With that, Naruto walked off in a random direction, hoping to find a magic store.

After half an hour of searching, and with no luck, Naruto finally decided to just ask someone. He asked a random towns person, who pointed him in the right direction.

After 5 more minutes, Naruto came across the magic store, which was named 'Rocky's Magic Emporium', brightly lit via a lacrima. Walking inside, he was immediately greeted by a gruff, but still cheerful voice.

"What can I help you with?"

Turning to face the source, he noticed a large man, his body made up of rectangles and squared off, pun intended.

"I was looking for some books on **Wind Magic**."

The man nodded. "Sure, I give you some good ones. Name's Rocky by the way, owner of this humble shop." The man wandered into the back of his store, coming back a few minutes later, carrying a stack of books, before sorting them into fours piles of three, with the last pile having only two.

"I wasn't too sure if you were a beginner or not, so I brought books from the _Beginner _level to the _Master_ level. Each pile has an introductory book, a theory book, and a book filled with various spells. Of course, the master level doesn't have too many spells available, so the spells are part of the theory book. Masters create their own spells, and are pretty secretive about what they are. Not too mention that you don't see many mages that use **Wind Magic**."

Naruto groaned mentally. 'Great. The element that I can do is the rarest of the most common magics. What did I do in my past life to deserve this?'

**'You could've been a mass murderer or something,'** Kyuubi suggested.

'...You might be on to something, fox.'

"I'll take the _Advanced _and _Master _level books for theory and spells." Rocky nodded, grabbing the desired books and heading to the cash register. He punched a few buttons, bringing up the total.

"That'll be Nine Thousand Five Hundred Jewels."

Naruto handed him the amount, eagerly grabbing his books to read and learn new spells from.

"Thanks!"

**-Scene-**

Arriving at the hotel, he checked in with the receptionist and headed to his room. The hotel itself was rather extravagant, and so was his room. It had a two large king sized beds that were covered by expensive silk sheets. The rest of the room was no joke either, with plush couches and a bookshelf filled with books of many different genres.

"Damn! This room's awesome! I gotta remember to thank the mayor later!" Naruto yelled as he jumped onto the bed and sank comfortably into the large mattress. Lying on his side, Naruto spread out his purchases in front of himself, and pick up the book called _Advanced Theory: Wind Magic_. Shuddering slightly, but enduring it for the sake of getting stronger, Naruto opened the book and began to read.

An hour of reading later, Naruto was finished reading the book. The book had talked about the various uses of **Wind Magic** and the many different ways it could be used for attack, defence and miscellaneous purposes. When he read about flying, Naruto had been absolutely giddy, like a child who had been told he could have all the candy in the world.

'I gotta recreate me that shit.'

Other than that, the uses of **Wind Magic** were pretty close to what one could do with a **Wind Affinity **like himself, so recreating these spells wouldn't be as hard as he would have thought.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Naruto turned to see Katsumi stumbling in, holding multiple bags. Righting herself, she managed to get to the bed, dumping her luggage on top of it. Naruto watched her, amused.

"What's in the bags?"

"Clothes."

Naruto looked at her incredulously.

"How many clothes did you buy to warrant having 15 bags filled with them?!"

"A lot," Came her simple answer. Naruto sweat dropped at the answer, shaking his head.

"Well, anyway, I'm just gonna pass out on the bed now."

"No, you can't."

Naruto blinked. "What do you mean, I can't?"

"I need someone to tell me which of these clothes I should keep, and which ones that I should return."

Naruto sighed, feeling eternal torture about to be wrought upon him. He had never been so right in his life.

**-Scene-**

Naruto and Katsumi looked up at the massive castle towering over them. The stone making it up was a colour just slightly lighter than black. The castle itself was rather intimidating, with spikes jutting out of the walls and lots of holes where archers would have shot from.

'It's not a castle. It's a fortress.' Naruto concluded in his thoughts.

"How will we destroy the castle?" Katsumi asked from beside him.

"Well, we just need to destroy it, so why not unleash our most powerful moves on it, and hope it breaks?" Naruto responded, being unable to think of a plan better than the one suggested. Katsumi nodded, drawing her sword from its sheath. However, before she could do anything, there was a rustle from the bushes a few feet away from them, causing Naruto to grab her and disappear in a burst of speed to hide behind the tree line.

Looking from their hiding spots, they noticed a large group of men walking to the castle, led by an extremely fat man and wielding various weapons.

"So this is the castle? In which the legendary sword rests?" It was the fat man who said this, causing both Naruto and Katsumi to pay extra attention.

"Yes Boss Bora." The man to his right replied.

The fat man, Bora, laughed greedily. "Then let's go get it. We can make big money off this boys! That sword is worth ten times the payment of your average S-rank job in the black market! And that's just the starting price!"

At his statement, Katsumi's eyes widened marginally, causing Naruto to stare at her questioningly.

"That sword...It's priceless!" She whispered, causing Naruto's eyes to widen as well at the large sum of money.

"Naruto. We have to get that sword. Even if we don't sell it, a legendary sword in the hands of criminals is dangerous."

"Well, then why don't we let them get it for us, then beat them up, and take it?"

Katsumi nodded excitedly. "Sounds good."

It didn't take long for the men to disappear into the castle and come back holding a sword. It was the length of your average katana, seemingly average and without any special attributes. Bora drew it from it's sheath, revealing a wicked black blade that radiated evil. Deep inside Naruto, Kyuubi stirred.

**'Kit, that sword...'**

'What about it?'

**'It's...evil. No...more like it's...sentient. It has a mind of its own. I can sense a powerful presence from the blade.'**

'Should we destroy it then?'

**'No! Are you stupid?! Look at that blade carefully, fool! See how sharp it is?!'** Naruto looked, and indeed, it was sharp. This was further ensured when Bora swung the blade at a tree, slicing through it like a knife through butter.

'Shit! That's sharp!'

**'Exactly! If you were to get that blade, and apply your wind chakra, can you imagine any defence stopping you?'**

Naruto shook his head.

**'Exactly! Now go get that sword! That man, Bora, he's leaving!'**

"Katsumi," Naruto began, "You get the grunts. I'll head for the sword." Katsumi nodded her agreement, taking out her blade, her magic spiking. She walked out from their hiding spot, attracting the attention of the men.

"Oh, now what's a pretty little thing like you doing here? You don't wanna get hurt, now do you?"

"Whether I wish to get hurt or not is not important. What am I doing here? That is obvious." Katsumi glared at the men, her magic levels spiking further. "I'm here to take that sword off your disgusting hands."

The men stared at her, before breaking into laughter. A random grunt spoke up. "You couldn't harm a fly, what makes you think you can hurt us? That sword of yours, I bet you can't even use it!" Katsumi narrowed her eyes in anger. No one made fun of her skill with her sword! No one!

"Then let me show you just how much I can 'use' it."

**"****Flame Sword Magic: Dashing Crescent Moon****!"**

Katsumi dashed forward, drawing her blade in a manner resembling a crescent moon. Her speed was untraceable by their eyes as she dashed through their ranks, stopping behind them, her sword arm outstretched. Calmly, she stood, and slowly slid her sword back into its sheath.

"Ha! See what I mean! That did jack sh-AGHHHHHHH!"

The blade closed with an audible click. Suddenly, fire erupted from wounds that were not there seconds before. It exploded outward, cauterizing their wounds and causing severe agony. Katsumi grimaced, that was one of the moves she had left in reserve for the lowest of the low, simply because of the amount of pain it caused.

Naruto shivered from behind his hiding spot as he watched Katsumi decimate their ranks.

'I hope I never have to be on the receiving end of that move.'

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he ran towards where he assumed Bora would be going. It wasn't hard to catch up with him. He was walking slowly and carelessly, drowning in thoughts of money. The sword was beside him, back inside the sheath.

Pulling out a kunai, Naruto threw it in front of the man, causing him to stop abruptly, frightened.

"W-who's there?! What do you want?!"

Naruto appeared in front of him, his hand cocked back. Before Bora could get even a squeak out, he was punched by Naruto full force, and sent flying. He collided with a tree, and was knocked out immediately. Naruto stared at the sword for a second, before reaching down to pick it up. As soon as he grabbed it, his vision turned dark and he passed out.

**-Scene-**

When Naruto came to, he was standing in front of Kyuubi's cage. Kyuubi was staring at him, looking bewildered.

"Oi, fox! Why'd you call me here?"

**"I didn't."**

"You didn't? Then how'd I get here?"

_**"Because I called you**** here."**_

Spinning around, Naruto was greeted by the sight of a tall, green haired man wearing a dark green hakama, with three sword hanging from his side and his left eye closed with a scar over it, much like Kakashi's.

"Eh? Who are you? And how'd you get here?"

_**"I am Sandai Kitetsu, the sword that is currently held in your hand. You are given a choice. You can drop my blade, and sell it. Or, you can attempt to wield me. Be warned, I am a cursed blade. All my previous owners have died wielding me in combat. The choice is**** yours."**_

"Then...I'll break that curse." Before Kyuubi could say anything, Naruto drew the sword from its sheathe, and threw it up into the air. He held his arm out, directly below where the sword would fall. The sword came falling down.

Ten metres.

Five metres.

Four metres.

Three metres.

Two metres.

One metre.

The sword missed his arm by a hairsbreadth, embedding itself all the way to the hilt into the floor of Naruto's mind scape.

_**"So you have passed. Very well, you may wield me. But know this, should you falter, I will turn on you."**_With those cheery words, Kitetsu disappeared.

"Great. Another things that hopes to kill me," Naruto muttered to himself. He stiffened suddenly, and turned around to face Kyuubi, who was leaking out his killing intention.

"Um, I guess you're pissed at me?"

**"You know who long it would've took to heal your arm?!"**

"A long time?"

**"Yes! Now leave, the girl is thinking you have died."** Kyuubi sent a wave of chakra at Naruto, which collided with him and sent him flying out of his mindscape.

**-End-**

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update! It's been about a month, and I'm really sorry. I got pretty busy with my exams, but now that they're done with, I can work on updating faster. **

**So, Naruto and Katsumi grow closer, and Naruto gets a sword! Zoro will not be featured anymore in this story, and Naruto won't be learning any special sword techniques. The sword will be a regular sword. Except super sharp and durable! So, not much of a fight this chapter, just some set up here and there.**

**For all those people wondering what Katsumi looks like, I put the link on my profile. I didn't colour it, so if anyone would like to colour it really nicely and send it to me, that would be great. Just don't claim rights to the original, and you can do whatever you want with it. Please PM me though to tell me if you want to colour it, just so I know. I'll have a contest for the best colour pic of her. Winner gets a virtual cookie!**

**Going to the poll for Naruto's second affinity, Lightning is currently in the lead with 17 votes. Yay!**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chap, and thanks to all those who reviewed for the last one! I'll try to update faster from now on. Keep reviewin and let's get me to a hundred reviews!**

**HokagenoNaruto, out.**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

"Demon/Summon Speaking"

'Demon Thinking'

* * *

In an undisclosed location, two figures could be seen kneeling in front of a throne. The lack of light covered their features with shadows, wrapping them in darkness. The figure seated upon the throne was completely hidden, much like the two before him. The figure on the throne spoke.

"You two will go to the mining town of Festacus. There is a powerful Light Guild located there. I would like for you to eliminate them. But tread warily, we do not need the Magic Council seeing us as too much of a threat."

The figure kneeling on the right nodded. "Yes, Master Hades. So long as those weaklings can put up a good fight, I will do it."

The other figure remained silent.

"Good. I am giving you a week's time to do this and return. Do not fail me, my children."

"Yes, Master," They chorused together. They left a moment later, leaving Hades to focus his attention on the person beside him.

"Yes, Bluenote?"

A tall figure stepped out of the shadows. "If I may ask, why send those two? I can understand Azuma, but why Meredy? She is among the weaker members of the kin."

"They were the only one's we can spare at the moment. The rest of the Kin are occupied with their own tasks. Besides, the task is simple. While the guild is strong, they are still nothing to one, much less two of the Seven Kin of Purgatory," Explained Hades.

"Then instead of sending two of them, why not send one of me?"

"Patience, Bluenote. You have your role coming up soon."

Bluenote nodded, though he didn't look very happy.

**-Scene-**

Naruto panted as he dodged yet another sword strike from Katsumi. She had forbidden him the use of his new sword, Sandai Kitetsu until he was adequate at wielding it, rather than 'swinging it around like a muscle bound idiot.'

It had been about two weeks since he had obtained Kitetsu, and he had been slowly improving, in all of his subjects. His body had become slightly stronger from the constant use, and his reflexes were slowly getting better and better. Swordplay was unfortunately something he was not amazing at, but he got by well enough for Katsumi to give him a passing grade. It would be a long, long time before he could defeat her in a swords only fight, but he could hold his own, for a while at least.

He had also studied his books vigorously, attempting to recreate several spells. So far, even with clones, he had only managed to recreate and master 2 spells, but he didn't care. He was still improving, and was finding it easier to use his jutsu as he used them more and more in his spars with Katsumi, and recently, Natsu.

The kid had been excited at the thought of facing strong opponents, so he challenged Naruto every day. As the days went by, Naruto was noticing a rapid change in him. No longer was he so easily defeated as he had been before. Natsu's was slowly growing used to fighting at intense speeds, and his reflexes were much better than before. While he was still hotheaded, and tended to charge into fights, he was beginning to develop a skill to create strategies on the fly. Of course, it would take more experience for him to properly develop the skill, but it was a good start.

Back to the fight, Naruto cursed himself for losing himself in his thoughts. He almost missed a sword strike from Katsumi that would've left a nasty bruise via her heavy wooden sword.

Gripping his sword, he brought it up for a vertical parry to block her strike. He succeeded in his block, but was pushed down by Katsumi's immense strength. Grinning at the challenge, he pushed against her, pushing her back and placing some distance between them. Naruto charged at her, thrusting his sword forward in a stabbing motion. Katsumi stood, waiting.

When he got close, she suddenly threw her sword out, deflecting his strike, leaving him open. Katsumi slashed her sword at him multiple times, causing Naruto to furiously attempt to block, something he succeeded at, if only barely.

Their swords connected once more, now in a standstill. Both struggled to overpower the other, their muscles working to the max. Katsumi suddenly broke the standstill, causing Naruto to stumble. She slapped his sword from his weakened grip, sending it flying away. Placing her sword underneath his chin, she smirked victoriously.

"Yield," She said.

Naruto groaned. "Looks like you win. Again."

Katsumi smiled lightly. "Oh, cheer up. You would've beaten me if I had allowed you the use of your magic. Or your knives, at the very least."

"I'll beat you in a sword-fight one day."

"Sure, if that allows you to sleep at night," She joked, something that she had been doing much more often. She had opened up much more over the two weeks of hanging around Naruto, and by default, Fairy Tail, revealing a fun side of herself.

Naruto, in an act of great maturity, stuck his tongue out at her, causing her to grin. Before they could banter further, they heard a shout.

"Oi! Naruto!"

Naruto turned his head to see Jet running at him full speed.

"Yeah? What's up?" He called back. Jet skidded to a halt in front of him.

"Ah, nothing much. It's just that, you and Katsumi have been gone for about 5 hours now, so Mira was getting a bit worried. She sent me to bring you back."

Naruto glanced up at the sun, and indeed, it had been quite some time since they had started training.

"I didn't even realize!" Naruto exclaimed. Katsumi nodded.

"We will be there soon, Jet. Go back and relay it to Mira."

Jet nodded, turning around and blazing off, leaving a dust trail in his wake.

**-Scene-**

"Hey Mir-"

BAM!

"Ow! God dammit, Natsu!"

"Hehe, sorry Naruto." Natsu looked sheepish, having collided with Naruto after being thrown by Elfman.

"Alright. Just try to be more aware of where your going to fall next time."

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Aye!"

Naruto stared at Happy, still not quite believing the existence of the blue cat. Happy was like a summon, except Natsu had raised him after he had _hatched_. What kind a cat hatches? But he was not from another world, as far as he knew, and Natsu was the only parent he had known. So, until something came up to explain Happy's origins, Naruto would just accept Happy for what he was, a talking cat.

"Uzumaki Naruto, where on earth have you been?!"

Naruto froze, and slowly turned to face Mirajane.

"Well, you see, I was, training?" He offered weakly. Mirajane smiled sweetly, before grabbing his ear and yanking down.

"OW!"

"You've been gone for five _hours_. It does not take that long for you and Katsumi to finish training! We thought you two had passed out, or worse! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"I'm sorry?"

Mirajane crossed her arms. "Hmph. I forgive you. But no ramen for you. And Katsumi, would you like some ramen? I'm sure you must be hungry."

"Why yes, I would like some ramen, Mira-San," Katsumi said, smirking.

Naruto in the meantime chose to sulk in a corner, mumbling about how the precious was taken away from him.

"C'mon Naruto, don't be so depressed." It was Makarov who said this, taking a seat beside Naruto, a mug of ale set in front of him.

"But...But...It's ramen!" Naruto whined, causing all those in the vicinity to sweatdrop.

"Cheer up! It's only for today!"

This statement only seemed to make it worse as Naruto rocking back and forth in his chair, muttering, "Just a day? Just a day he says! How will I live?"

Makarov just stared at him, wondering how anyone, other than his old friend Yajima could love ramen so much? Deciding to change the subject, he offered, "Anyway, I have a job that needs to be done. A simple delivery- shouldn't take you to long. It'll take your mind off your missing ramen. How's that sound?"

Naruto brightened instantly, turning serious. "How far is that place?"

"Not too far. It's a town named Festus. I want you to deliver the letter to the guildmaster of Scarlet Light. Their guild building is situated a little ways from the town, but not too far."

Naruto nodded. "Sweet. When should I leave?"

"Grab yourself something to eat, then head out immediately," Informed Makarov. Naruto nodded once then headed back to where Mirajane was to order something else that existed on the menu.

**Timeskip- 5 Hours Later**

The sky was slowly bleeding red as the sun began to set. The wind was blowing a pleasant breeze, and all was peaceful. On a road stabbing into the forest, Naruto could be seen running to his destination.

It had been a while since he had felt the thrill of running towards a destination, and he had no desire to take the train, so he ran. So far, he was enjoying himself. At his fast pace, he would arrive in Festus in a few more minutes.

Pumping more chakra into his legs, Naruto pushed forward faster. After a minute at this pace, he finally broke into a clearing, the entrance to Festus just a few feet ahead.

He took out his map, examining it.

"According to this, I have to head East-North-East of this clearing, and I should find Scarlet Light."

Turning in the appropriate direction, Naruto chose to walk the remaining distance to the guild. As he neared Scarlet Light, he sniffed the air, sensing something off. He sniffed again, to make sure. There was no doubt about it- The smell coming from the area was the scent of burnt flesh, blood, but most prominent, death. Naruto glanced up, and squinted. He could see it now, the smoke wafting from the clearing.

He rushed to the clearing, skidding to a stop. He surveyed the area. What was supposed to be a solid white guild building, was now blackened planks of wood, and a completely demolished building. Fire burned all over, and there was strangely burnt tree roots scattered across the clearing. The guild members of Scarlet Light, or what remained of them, could be seen lying across the area.

Hearing a cough from one of them, Naruto quickly rushed to his side.

"Who did this?" He asked the man.

The man coughed. "One person, no, devil in human form. He came from nowhere, and just attacked. We fought back, but..."

"What?!"

"Nothing worked. He evaded all our attacks, and when he injured one of us, 5 more would fall with them. Who are you, stranger?"

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm a mage of Fairy Tail."

"Fairy Tail, huh? Then please, I beg of you! Avenge us..." The man took one more shuddering breath, and the light left his eyes. Naruto placed his hand over the man's eyes, closing them. He took a moment to mourn those killed, and stood up, his eyes burning with rage.

"I swear, I'm gonna beat the crap out of those guys. Don't worry, old man."

**-Scene-**

"Weaklings, the lot of them. They weren't a challenge at all, eh Meredy?"

Meredy remained silent, choosing not to comment.

"Well, in any case, we should head back. Hopefully, Master Hades will give me a more challenging job for next time."

The pair continued their journey carelessly. Perhaps if they had been on guard, they would've sensed an opponent sneaking up from behind them.

Suddenly, Naruto burst from the trees from beside them, a **Rasengan** in hand, heading straight for Azuma. Azuma was surprised, but still managed to put up a feeble defence which was quickly destroyed by the **Rasengan**. He was blasted back, flying back into a tree. However, instead of colliding with it, he merely disappeared through it. He appeared from another nearby tree, smirking.

"And who might you be?" He asked, hoping that this fight would be good.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," He growled out through gritted teeth.

"I see. What do you want then?"

"Me? I'm gonna kick your ass seven ways into next Sunday! You'll pay for what you did to that guild!" Naruto roared at him, eyes brimming with anger.

"Oh? Those weaklings? They were hardly a challenge. I expect you to give me a better fight," Azuma taunted, hoping to get on his nerves, something he succeeded at excellently.

"I told you. I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Azuma smirked. "Meredy, stay out of this fight. I'll beat this weakling easily." Meredy nodded, moving aside. Naruto didn't pay her much attention, focusing on Azuma. Looking at Naruto, Azuma spoke once more, "You! What are you waiting for? Attack already!"

Naruto grinned widely. "With pleasure."

A clone of Naruto burst from the ground underneath Azuma, punching him, and sending him up into the air. Naruto jumped above him, planning to send him down, when Azuma suddenly twisted in the air, his magic spiking.

**"Great Tree Arc: Tree Fist!"**

Multiple fists of wood came at Naruto at high speeds, who struggled to block them in mid-air. He was partially successful, managing to block most, except for one that slipped into his guard and pummelled him into the ground, picking up smoke from the impact.

The smoke cleared, revealing Naruto nowhere in sight. Azuma glanced around, attempting to sense his opponent. Finding him, he turned around and yelled out,

**"Great Tree Arc: Burst Claw!"**

Beams of light shot towards the trees, towards where he sensed his opponent. Naruto, who attempted to dodge, was engulfed by the following explosions.

He recovered quickly, jumped straight at Azuma with his kunai encoated with wind chakra. Azuma merely held his hand out, waiting for Naruto to draw near.

**"Great Tree Arc: Bleve."**

A mighty explosion burst from Azuma's hand, catching Naruto who was a mere foot away. Azuma looked at Naruto, who was lying face down, his back burnt horribly.

"Tch. Just another weakling."

**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**

A massive wave of wind erupted into existence from behind Azuma, sending him forward and leaving him with minor cuts. When he got up, he saw Naruto standing calmly. The spot where 'Naruto' had been laying was now replaced by a blackened log.

"So you survived that? Good, good. But what say we bring it up a notch?"

"My thoughts exactly."

Azuma rushed forward, Naruto running to meet him. They met, and Naruto, using his superior physical combat skills, immediately began releasing hell on Azuma. He battered his body with multiple kicks and punches, not giving him a chance to raise a defence.

Azuma quickly gathered his magic, casting his spell quickly to break said assault.

**"Great Tree Arc: Mini Explosions!"**

Miniature explosions happened around Azuma, causing Naruto to take a quick jump back. Azuma, not quite down his assault, attacked while he had the chance.

**"Great Tree Arc: Tower Burst!"**

Flames exploded out from Azuma, heading fast towards Naruto and eradicating most of the wildlife in a fifty-feet radius.

'Oh shit! That's like Katsumi's attack but on a much larger scale!'

Naruto jumped high into the air, but quickly noticed that the flames would still reach him. Cursing, he quickly made handseals.

**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**

The wave of wind provided more fuel for the flames, however, like with Katsumi, the flames stopped their movement to him. The wall of fire faded quickly, and Naruto rushed at Azuma, not wanting to miss this chance.

**"Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullets!"**

5 bullets of air shot at Azuma, who quickly pulled up a defence.

**"Great Tree Arc: Tree Shield!"**

Roots came from the ground and formed a protective sphere around him. Naruto however was not deterred and unsheathed his sword, channelling wind chakra through it. The roots put up momentary resistance, before being cut through with ease.

Naruto quickly charged a **Rasengan**, and Azuma, who could not dodge, crossed his arms protectively in front of his body. The attack struck his arms, grinding away at them. Azuma could not hold against the power of the attack, and was thrown back into one of his roots, his back slamming painfully onto it.

But Azuma got up quickly, and swung his arms out, yelling widely.

**"Great Tree Arc: Folium Sica!"**

Multiple tree blades flew at Naruto, who was hit at point blank range, multiple cuts appearing on his body.

"Argh!"

Azuma through his hand out, capitalizing on his opponents weakness.

**"Great Tree Arc: Linear Explosions!"**

Multiple fruits were thrown at Naruto, who was caught in the explosion, sending him tumbling back. Struggling, he attempted to stand up, his knees weak and feeling like jelly.

"Why do you try? You don't have to help them."

Naruto looked at him painfully. "So? Who cares if they were strangers? You killed them all, without any mercy! What gave you the bloody right?! Huh?!"

"Nobody gave me the right. They were in the way, and so we eliminated them."

"You bastard," Naruto said through gritted teeth. "They were people! People who had families, and friends. And took all that away, because they were in the fucking way? I hate people like you!"

"They were weak. They could not help themselves. It is their own fault for not being strong enough to defeat me, just like you."

Naruto remained silent, causing Azuma to continue.

"They could not stand up to one man, and a girl who barely did any fighting. It's good that weaklings like them are gone from this world."

"You bastard! I'll make you pay!" Naruto growled out menacingly. Azuma however was not fazed.

"How do you intend to do that? Beaten on the ground as you are?" He mocked.

Naruto's face split into a feral grin, perking Azuma's interest, who looked at him questioningly.

"I will beat you into the ground. You gave me plenty of time to set this up, so thanks."

With those words, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke. Azuma looked around, trying to predict where his opponent would attack from. He looked around, when suddenly, Naruto appeared in front of him via Shunshin.

"Gotta love that jutsu," He said, bringing his fist forward, his eyes in the distinct form indicating **Sage Mode**. Azuma tilted his head to the side slightly, but was still sent flying back by some invisible force.

"What the hell was that?" He asked Naruto, holding his paining right cheek.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out."

Naruto rushed forward once more, unleashing a flurry of attacks on Azuma, injuring him greatly.

**"Great Tree Arc: Mini Explosions!"**

The explosions once more took place around Azuma, hoping to get Naruto away from him. It was not his luck, as Naruto, enhanced by **Sage Mode**, came out relatively unharmed and punched Azuma hard on the chest, who felt like his rib had cracked.

The Grimoire Heart member got up quickly, panting hard. "That's it! I'm done playing around! You were a good opponent, but now it's time for you to lose!"

**"Great Tree Arc: Tree Fist!"**

A grand fist of wood flew towards Naruto, who hastily jumped up to dodge.

**"Great Tree Arc: Folium Sica!"**

The glowing blades headed toward the still in mid-air Naruto, who was quick to counter.

**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**

The two attacks clashed, cancelling the other out. Naruto and Azuma rushed forward, not wanting to let the other gain advantage.

**"Great Tree Arc: Bleve!"**

Naruto hastily jumped over the explosion, heading down towards Azuma, a **Rasengan **in his hand. He pushed it forward toward Azuma's stomach, who quickly made a root intercept it. The **Rasengan** broke through after a moment, but it's power was significantly weakened. It collided head on with Azuma's stomach, who yelled from the pain.

"Give up, you've lost," Naruto told him, still in front of Azuma.

Azuma reached out his hand, gripping Naruto's arm tightly, chuckling slowly. "I'll admit, that attack hurt like hell, but it got you close to me."

Naruto attempted to pull his arm from Azuma's grip, something he succeeded at, only to have his limbs ensnared by thick branches. The branches spread and held the rest of his body, allowing no chance of escape.

"This is the end. **Great Tree Arc: Terra Clamare!"**

The branches expanded and blew up with mighty force, an inferno of fire raging out. Azuma stood calmly, unaffected by the flames.

The dissipated, revealing Naruto laying on the ground, burnt and bleeding from several cuts.

"Hmph. He was a good fight. A shame he died."

Azuma turned around and began to walk away, but stopped at the sound of Naruto's voice.

"Who died?"

Azuma spun around, and indeed, Naruto was very much alive.

"So you survived even that? How?"

Naruto pointed to his eyes, saying, "**Sage Mode** increases my natural endurance and resistance. It's harder to injure me in this form."

"I see. It seems you are an even stronger opponent than what I once thought. But you can hardly stand. This fight is over."

"It's not over until I'm laying dead on the ground!" Naruto roared, chakra bursting from his body. He charged at Azuma, who responded the same.

They punched and kicked, and in their weakened states, took the others blows. It was not a fight of skill and finesse. It was a fight of who would fall down completely exhausted first.

Azuma quickly gathered his magic and launched an attack, though it was significantly weaker than the ones before.

**"Great Tree Arc: Burst Claw!"**

A wooden whip slammed into Naruto, sending him back as it exploded, picking up a lot of smoke.

The smoke cleared as Naruto burst threw it, running at Azuma, who manipulated the trees to attack him. Naruto kept charging, cutting and hacking threw the trees with Kitetsu.

**"Great Tree Arc: Linear Explosions!"**

Naruto hastily dodged them, and kept charging at Azuma, who merely waited for him.

**Great Tree Arc: Bleve!"**

Naruto dodged to the right, stabbing forward with Kitetsu. Unfortunately, Azuma was prepared for the attack.

**"Great Tree Arc: Tree Fist!"**

The fists shot forward from under Naruto, punching him and knocking Kitetsu out of his hand. Azuma was quick to act, rushing forward and stabbing Naruto with a sharpened root through his chest.

"Now, it's over."

Naruto coughed. "I told you, it's not over till I'm dead."

"You will be in a few seconds."

"You're right, I will be." He smirked. "Right about now."

And with that, he burst into smoke. Azuma stumbled, and began looking for his elusive foe, when he suddenly froze at a sound. It was at first it was the sound a ind blowing, but soon evolved into a high pitched whistling. He looked forward towards the source, and saw Naruto charging towards him, holding an attack that would surely kill him if it hit.

With a roar of determination, Naruto threw it forward straight towards Azuma, who panicked at the sight of the fierce attack.

"No! I refuse to die yet!" He yelled wildly, gathering all of his remaining magic.

**"Great Tree Arc: Tree Shield!"**

The roots that came to protect him were thicker than before, and surrounded him in a protective cocoon. The **Rasenshuriken** hit the shield, struggling to break through the dense roots.

"It's no use! Those roots are the strongest I can conjure! Even that monstrous attack won't break through!" Azuma yelled. But he was proved wrong a second later, when the roots holding back the **Rasenshuriken** began to crack.

After a tense moment, the** Rasenshuriken** finally broke through, continuing to Azuma. Azuma, using the last of his remaining strength, leapt mightily out of the way. The **Rasenshuriken** expanded outward, and exploded into the giant sphere, eradicating the remaining shield.

Azuma breathed hard, having barely survived that last attack. "I have to get away. I can't risk using anymore of my magic."

"Not so fast!"

Naruto appeared in front of Azuma, crouching down, a **Rasengan** in his hand. "It's over!"

**"Rasengan!"**

Just before the attack hit Azuma, a soft voice could be heard.

**"Maguilty Sense: Sensory Link."**

A pink heart appeared on Naruto's wrist, but he paid it no mind and continued to spear his attack towards Azuma. It hit his stomach, dead-on at full power.

Azuma dropped to the ground, too exhausted to even scream, causing Naruto to grin at his victory. But his grin immediately dropped as a intense pain shot through his abdomen.

"Argh!"

**"Maguilty Sense: Maguilty Sodom."**

Blades of light pierced Naruto's limbs, causing him to drop onto the ground as he lost feeling in his limbs.

"It seems you forgot that there were two of us," Meredy said from behind Naruto coldly.

The Grimoire Heart airship could be seen overhead as various grunt members climbed down via a ladder.

"Meredy-Sama! Are you alright?!"

"I am fine. Attend to Azuma," She ordered them.

"What about the mage?" One of them asked.

"Leave him. He will die on his own very shortly."

The grunts nodded, and hurried to work. Naruto could only look at them as they gathered his opponent, and left. The last image on his mind before he lost unconscious was the sight of a young pink haired girl looking down at him curiously from the rope the she hung onto, and various voices yelling incoherently around him.

**-End-**

**And finally, it is out! The next update should be faster, considering that it will be more filler. The next chapter will also feature the time skip to canon FT, so that we may finally get the story on track. It was very hard writing this, considering I wasn't sure if I even portrayed Azuma right or not.**

**I am officially closing the poll, with Lightning as the winner! Yay! It won by 7 votes. Sorry to all those hoping for water, but this is it. Naruto won't be continuously spamming S-class Lightning jutsu, but he will get better with time.**

**To anyone saying that Naruto should have used the Kyuubi, then let me remind you that Naruto is not all powerful. He got hit, or at least felt a full-powered Rasengan, then got lost his mobility because his pain-clouded mind was tricked into thinking that he could no longer move his limbs. And then he passed out. He was also exhausted from his fight with Azuma, making it a contributing factor. **

**Also, about Azuma getting hit by Rasengan multiple times and surviving, my response if look at the fight between Erza and Azuma. If she could survive attacks that were lethal, then why can't Azuma, who had a strong build, do that same? The attacks were different, yes, but I can still see it happening. Not to mention each time, the Rasengan was intercepted and weaken by something, except for the last one.**

**I'm currently at 93 reviews, so let's get me into the triple digits!**

**HokagenoNaruto, out.**


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

"Demon/Summon Speaking"

'Demon Thinking'

* * *

When Naruto came to, he was immediately forced to close his eyes at the blinding white colour of the ceiling. He groaned loudly, instantly moving a hand over his eyes. He opened them slowly, allowing them to adjust to the bright colour.

He glanced around the room. It was completely white, and the curtains were drawn back, allowing bright sunlight to flood the room. He had a table at his bedside, a vase of flowers upon it.

'I must be at a hospital,' He thought.

He pushed himself up, only to fall straight back down as his muscles screamed in protest.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that," An amused voice said. Naruto turned his head at the sound, and noticed an short old man standing there, smiling kindly.

Naruto blinked. '...He's shorter than Makarov...' He thought, but chose not to comment.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, at Era."

"Where the Magic Council is located?"

"Yes." The old man answered simply.

Naruto shook his head slightly. "How'd I get here?"

"Our Rune Knights found you half-dead from fighting those mages. We are still not sure who they are, however, in case you were wondering."

"Your Rune Knights? Are you a member of the Council or something, old man?"

He let out a chuckle. "You certainly are one of Makarov's mages. And to answer your question, yes, I am. My name is Yajima."

Naruto nodded, slightly suspicious. "What does a member of the Magic Council want with me?" He asked.

Yajima maintained his kindly smile. "Makarov personally requested that I be with you when you wake. Our Lacrima indicated that you would awake sometime today, so I hurried on over."

"I see."

Naruto remained silent for a moment, before asking, "How long have I been out?"

"About 3 days," Was Yajima's reply. "You heal rather fast, young man. Shocked all the doctors at your recovery."

Naruto chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I guess." He blinked suddenly.

"Does the rest of the Guild know where I am?"

"Yup. A lot of your friends wanted to rush over. Particularly these two lovely young ladies named Katsumi and Mirajane. Quite the player you are," Yajima told him, teasing him a bit.

Naruto blushed slightly. "We're just friends dammit! Why doesn't anyone understand that?!"

Yajima smiled knowingly, as if to say that he had heard the same many times before.

"So, what do I do now?"

"Well, the Council wishes to meet with you to recount your most recent battle. You certainly lived up to the Fairy Tail reputation of causing mass destruction. If I recall, we also had another appointment scheduled, so we'll do that one as well for convenience. However, that is not until tomorrow, so you may do as you wish, as long as you stay in the grounds. Recover some more, and eat some ramen as well."

"Alright." Naruto said, then paused. "How do you know I like ramen?"

"I don't. But I do, and ramen is the food of the gods, and also the answer to solving worldly problems." Yajima replied, his eyes gaining a slight twinkle.

"...I'm sorry, but could you repeat that?"

Yajima did, causing Naruto to cry anime tears of happiness. "Finally! Someone other than me has seen the truth of life!"

"The brotherhood had indeed been entrusted to good hands. The name of ramen shall be spread across the world!"

A knock was heard on the door, and Yajima sighed, his mood shifting suddenly. "Well, it would seem I must leave. I will see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun."

'I don't recall giving him my name. Must've been Makarov who told him.'

* * *

Naruto wandered around the beautiful gardens of Era, now fully clothed and feeling much better, albeit a little stiff. His mind replayed the battle over and over again in his head.

'I messed up. I forgot that the girl would probably intervene, no matter if he told her not to. I should have stopped my Rasengan the second I saw that mark appear,' He thought, looking down at his wrist.

**'Indeed you did mess up.'**

'Kyuubi?'

**'Once again, who else?'**

Naruto stayed silent.

**'You are also quite lucky that she thought you would die on your own, or else she would've killed you.'**

Naruto finally thought back after minutes of contemplation. 'What can I do?'

**'Get stronger, kit. That's all I can say. If you want specifics, I'd suggest going on a training trip, living off the land, and growing stronger.'**

'That's...actually not a bad idea. But the others...'

**'You're not leaving forever. Only about a year, probably less. Besides, you can only get stronger from this. Enough to keep your new, and old friends safe.'**

'I guess. Alright, I'll do it.'

"Why such a long face?" An alluring voice asked from his right. He stood up, turning his head, and noticed a beautiful, black haired woman wearing a white kimono that stopped at her knees. Her face was smooth, and slight hints of a smirk played at her full lips.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked calmly.

"Oh? A question for a question? My name is Ultear Milkovich."

"I see. What do you want?"

"Nothing. You seemed very sad, so I thought that I," She paused, stepping forward and behind him, and whispered hotly into his ear, her soft breath tickling his neck, "Might be able to cheer you up."

Naruto shivered at her voice. It just sounded so se-

'No! Bad Naruto! This isn't you! Get the hell out of my head, Ero-Sennin!'

**'Hmm, you have to admit kit, she is rather voluptuous,'** Kyuubi told him, enjoying the chance to make his host uncomfortable.

'Shut up, fuzzball.'

Naruto schooled his features. "What do you really want?"

She let out a giggle. "I merely wanted to check up on the man that I'll be interviewing tomorrow."

"You're the one that's supposed to interview me? I thought that Magic Council would be doing that?"

"They are," She replied, a small smirk on her face.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, before it clicked. "Eh?! You're on the Magic Council?!"

"Of course." What she didn't tell him was that she was also a member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, and wanted to see for herself who had defeated Azuma.

"Oh well, that's cool," Naruto said nonchalantly, not really caring that she was a Council member.

Ultear looked at him oddly. "You certainly are very...eccentric. Most mages would be bowing before me at this point."

"Do you want to be bowed to?" Naruto asked curiously.

"No, I suppose not. A change of pace is nice," She replied with a light laugh.

They sat for a moment before Ultear turned to him. "Since we are out here, why don't I buy you something to eat, and you can tell me more about yourself."

"Is there ramen?"

"Yes."

"Alright! Let's go," He beamed, motioning for Ultear to lead.

As they walked, Naruto couldn't help but have suspicions about the beautiful mage beside him. 'She wants something. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure a member of the Magic Council wouldn't just invite someone to eat. Maybe I'm thinking about it too hard, but I have this gut feeling...'

Ultear's thoughts, while not suspicious, were far from pure. 'He must certainly be a strong mage to defeat Azuma, especially at such a young age. If Meredy had not been there, then we definitely would've been exposed. But he is still a man. I will make him spill all of his secrets to me.'

They arrived at the restaurant after a short walk. Staring up at it, Naruto couldn't help but notice how fancy it was.

"Pretty impressive place," He commented.

"Ah yes. Yajima-Sama had this built due to his own passion for cooking. He proclaims that it makes the greatest ramen in the world," Ultear replied, causing Naruto's eyes to light up, excited.

"Is that so?"

They sat down, and Ultear made her move.

"So, tell me more about yourself," She beckoned.

Naruto looked thoughtful, pretending to be thinking, when in actuality, he was talking with Kyuubi.

'So, should I make up some random bullshit, or should I do something similar to the time when we met Kakashi-Sensei the first time?'

**'I would go with the Kakashi thing. It will be telling her about yourself, but nothing too important.'**

'Okay.'

"Well, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I am 16 years old. My likes are ramen, my friends and training. I dislike traitors, people who harm others for their own gain, and also those who make fun of people for something they can't control." Saying this, he subconsciously touched his stomach, an action that did not go unnoticed by Ultear.

'Now I wonder what that has to do with his last dislike? Probably some out of control magic, but this could warrant some investigation.'

"I also dislike the three minutes it takes to cook ramen! My hobbies are training, hanging out with friends, and eating ramen. My dreams for the future..."

Naruto took a pause. He had planned on becoming Hokage, but now it might not be possible. He hadn't really had a really good dream in mind.

"Well?" Came Ultear's voice, pulling Naruto from his mind, prompting him to continue. Thinking quickly, he smiled at what he had thought of.

"My dream is to bring peace to the world. To make a world where there are no wars, and where everyone lives in happiness," He told her, his smile present.

Ultear outwardly smiled in response, though in the recesses of her mind, she was smirking.

'Don't worry, Uzumaki. With Zeref-Sama, I will bring peace."

* * *

The next day, Naruto awoke later than his usual training time, his exhaustion still weighing heavily upon him. Yesterday had been quite boring after the meal with Ultear. After she left, there was not much to do, so he sat and meditated in Sage Mode for the most part.

He had noticed that in Era, the concentration of natural energy was ridiculous, and he was able to achieve **Sage Mode** much faster. The air, the animals, nature itself- Everything he sensed was at peace with it's environment, synced in perfect harmony. Naruto resolved to check up on it later, after his meeting with the Council.

Returning to the topic of Ultear, Naruto couldn't understand what her angle was. She seemed to be genuine, if a little teasing at times. But Naruto couldn't help but get the feeling she was not who she portrayed herself to be. Something seemed off whenever she smiled, when she spoke, as if it was not her, as if she was wearing a mask of sorts.

'I'll do my own investigation about it later.'

By the time he was done his inner musing, he had finished washing and was about to get dressed. Eyeing the outfit, he debated on whether he should wear it or not. He had picked it up from the clothing store a week ago, along with a special custom order, but had yet to find a special occasion to wear it.

'But then again, meeting with the most powerful mages in the land is a pretty special occasion, so why the hell not?'

With those thoughts in mind, Naruto grabbed the clothes and put them on.

When he was finished, he appraised himself in the mirror. He was dressed in black pants, with a rust orange long sleeve t-shirt. On top of the t-shirt, he wore his Sage coat, with kanji for 'Sage' emblazed on the back. Around his waist, he wore a belt to hold his equipment pouches on the right, and Sandai Kitetsu proudly being displayed on his left, sheathed inside a stylized white scabbard, with red flames running on its side.

He nodded approvingly. "I look so badass. That clothing store did an awesome job!"

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto. Occupation: Mage. Affiliation: Fairy Tail. Rank: Under Evaluation."

Naruto nodded at the silent question, confirming that yes, that was him. He currently stood in front of the Mage Council, his face in a small grin. The members were no pushovers, though he decided they liked showing their power, judging from the unnecessary amounts of energy flowing from most of them, except for the kind old man, Yajima, who was grinning at him, the ever mysterious Urtear, who wore a light smirk, and a young blue-haired man with an intricate tattoo over his right eye, who was staring at him with interest.

"You have two appointments needing to be fulfilled, so why don't we start with the earlier one first- the defeat of Enceladus by your hands." This was said by a tall old man with a long grey beard and an intimidating stare, who appeared to be in charge.

"Now, if you would recount the battle." It was a statement worded to be like a common request, yet Naruto could tell from his eyes that it was a clear order, one he expected to be followed. Naruto shrugged, and began,

"Well, it all started when we got a mission to save this town..."

For the next hour, Naruto launched into a mostly detailed account of the mission, skirting around the parts that involved his own world. By the end of it, the bearded man was thoughtful, but his eyes were hard.

"To think that the retched creations of Zeref still exist. Moving on-"

"If I may, Gran Doma-Sama," Interrupted Urtear. At his prompt, she continued.

"I would like to know how exactly Uzumaki-kun defeated Enceladus," She said, her face emotionless. She had purposely brought this up. Naruto had told them that he defeated Enceladus, but had glanced over his fight, not allowing much details to escape. If she could find out more, under the pretense of a curious Council Member, she might be able to determine exactly how strong this mysterious mage was, and possible ways of defeating him.

Gran Doma narrowed his eyes. "Yes, Uzumaki, why don't you enlighten us."

Naruto grinned nervously.

'Shit. Now what should I do?'

**'Why not just tell them your fight, barring the whole other dimension shit. It's not like they're not going to bat an eye about your magic, because I'm pretty sure new magics pop up frequently, or at least ones that are uncommon,'** Kyuubi suggested helpfully, getting Naruto to nod thoughtfully.

'Huh. Why didn't I think of that?'

**'Because you're a freaking dumbass of epic proportions?'**

Naruto scowled. 'Screw you, fuzz-face.'

Naruto cut off their link quickly, not allowing Kyuubi to respond.

"Stupid ass fox," Naruto muttered quietly under his breath.

"So, this is how it went," Naruto began.

* * *

"This is most worrisome. To think that Zeref created such a powerful demon," Gran Doma.

Naruto looked confused. "Huh? Didn't you already know about him, and all that?"

"We knew of him, but there were very few records on what his magic was. It was recorded that he was a user of multiple elemental magics- nothing too uncommon, so Enceladus was listed off as being weaker in comparison to the other demons," Gran Doma said, irritated that the Magic Council had disregarded something as important as Enceladus.

**'Mortals never fail to surprise me with their stupidity at times.'**

"Now, enough about this!" Gran Doma boomed, not allowing any more talk on the topic. "I believe that we have another matter at hand. Uzumaki, continue onto your most recent battle."

"Well, I went on a job from the old man to deliver some message to Scarlet Light. When I got there, all the members were dead, except for one who told me what happened. I was pissed, so I went after them."

Naruto paused, recalling the events. "I caught up, and ambushed them, but the two were not harmed. And the guy, told the girl- Meredy I think was her name- to stay out of the fight. And then we fought."

"That guy... He was super tough. I hit him with one of my strongest attacks, and he still got up. He even managed to avoid my strongest one altogether. At the end, I trapped him, and beat him. Somehow, I felt this burning pain in my stomach, and my arms and legs went all numb for some reason. I don't know how, but the pink-haired girl managed to beat me."

Naruto recalled what had happened. He had seen the pink heart, but he thought nothing of it. He was so focused on taking Azuma out, that he completely ignored the girl, thinking that she would be easy pickings once he defeated Azuma. After all, Azuma had been the one fighting, not the girl. Oh, how wrong he had been.

"I got lucky. She thought that I would bleed out, and left me alive. But I underestimated her, and I payed the price."

'Some ninja I am,' Naruto though bitterly. He had once again underestimated mages. He had been getting cocky, thinking that none of them would pose a big a risk as Nagato. So, unconsciously, he had powered down his **Sage Mode**. Ninja's were supposed to be prepared for anything, and adapt.

But he hadn't been. But no more, he vowed to himself. No more would be careless, no matter who his opponent. He would grow strong, and defeat Madara, and protect those that he cared for.

_That was a promise of lifetime._

* * *

"I don't know what to make of that boy."

"He is rather arrogant to me. Proudly proclaiming himself a sage," Org said, recalling the back of the blonde-haired youth's jacket.

"Org-San, I don't believe you need to be an old man to be a sage," Seigrain commented offhandedly, smirking.

Org saw red. The sheer arrogance of the young blue-haired Council member simply infuriated him. "You insolent little brat!"

He would have continued, had he not been interrupted by Gran Doma.

"Enough! Org, control yourself. Seigrain, refrain from making such comments."

Both nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"Good. Now, we will move onto deciding his ranking. As of yet, he was unranked, or believed to be about around B-class to A-class level. However, defeating Enceladus, and also that Dark Guild Mage, has changed that. I have reports from the Rune Knights stating that the area was heavily scarred from their battle, giving me reason to believe that his opponent was of S-class level."

"As such, I am thinking of make him a S-class mage. Your thoughts?"

Org spoke first, being the second seat. "Giving a mage of Fairy Tail more freedom for causing destruction? I cannot say I am in favour of this idea, especially after he has proven that he is very capable of living up to his Guilds name and reputation."

Gran Doma nodded, gesturing for Seigrain. " If I may ask, why bother? Why not let him go through Fairy Tail's S-class exam whenever it comes around?"

Gran Doma looked at Seigrain sharply. "I have a plan. He seems to have a strong sense of justice from how he immediately wished to avenge the members of Scarlet Light. That being said, making him S-class will allow him to undertake S-class missions, clearing up some of the harsher problems around Fiore that we don't have the raw manpower to deal with."

Seigrain nodded. "So, essentially, you're planning to make him the broom that will sweep away Fiore's dirt. At least, until the broom breaks that is."

It was a harsh analogy, but it was true. Gran Doma nodded. "In essence, that is what it is."

"Cast your votes."

* * *

"You worried quite a few people brat," Makarov said, looking at Naruto who was rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, a good-natured grin on his face.

"Ehehehe. Sorry about that."

It had been 3 days since Naruto's meeting with the Magic Council, and he had long since returned to Fairy Tail. It was quite overwhelming, what with the amount of people congratulating him on a job well done, and also asking if he was alright. Not to mention the harsh beating at Katsumi's hands, who was pissed at him for almost dying.

'I promise, I will never piss her off again,' Naruto vowed.

**'Don't be such a pussy brat. I doubt it was that bad,'** Kyuubi said in his mind, sneering.

Naruto's face gained a haunted look. 'If you were in my place, you wouldn't be saying that. No, you really, really wouldn't.'

"Oh well. All that matters is that you're safe now," Makarov paused, face turning serious. "By the way, the Magic Council sent a letter for you."

"About what?" Naruto asked curiously. He wondered exactly what the Magic Council wanted with him now.

"Apparently, they are promoting you to S-class mage status."

"Eh? Why?"

Now that was unexpected. He didn't expect to be promoted to S-class status, something that, while sounding awesome, was rather suspicious.

"Honestly? They're most likely promoting you to help deal with the traffic of S-class jobs. There is plenty of them, and not enough S-class mages to deal with them. Because of this, there is a lot of unsolved problems around Fiore, which can affect the overall economy."

"That can't be _too_ bad," Naruto decided. S-class jobs would further increase his skills, and also allow him to help protect people.

"No, I suppose it could be worse. Just remember to keep your head, and you'll do fine. Now scram, go have fun," Makarov told him lightly, grabbing a bottle of sake.

"One more thing. I was hoping if you would let me do something, lasting about maybe about a year or so."

Makarov took a sip of his bottle, and glanced at him, gesturing that he go on.

* * *

"So, you're leaving?" A figure asked the one beside it.

"Yeah," Came the simple reply.

"For how long?" The figure said, now distinguishable as female.

"Dunno. About a year," Was his reply.

"Do you have to go?"

The other figure, a male, gave a firm nod. "I have to get stronger Katsumi. I can't slack off. The last fight proved that."

The woman, Katsumi, gave a sigh. "I understand. Just...be safe, alright Naruto?"

Naruto grinned at her. "Of course. I'll be back before you know it."

With that, Naruto jumped off, beginning his training trip.

'I'm gonna get so strong on this trip. I won't slack off, I swear. When I get back, Madara better show up early, or else I'm not gonna leave him with any hope of beating me.'

**'I eagerly await the look on the bastards face after I- I mean _you_ tear him a new one.'**

'...Really? I? You suck.'

**-End-**

**So, it's up, and Naruto's gone on a training trip. Took a long time, and I have no explanation. I remember stating last chapter this one would be up next week. As you can see, that didn't really work out. Kind of lost motivation I guess.**

** Next chapter will be back to canon. There were some pretty mixed feelings about last chapter. Oh well, underpowered Sage Mode and all. Eh, whatever. I tried to explain it somewhat, but oh well. Hopefully this one was slightly more decent. The fight scene was too long, and I kind of lost it in terms of detail and all that. Can't be helped.**

**So, he meets Urtear (Ultear? If you notice me using the two versions of her name interchangeably, it's probably because I forgot, and was too lazy to change them). But anyway, meets her, and gets promoted to S-class status. Not because he was really awesome, but more because the Magic Council needs people because their own Rune Knights are too damn weak. Tell me what you think of that.**

**I'm not quite sure if Gran Doma headed the Council back then or no, so let me know.**

**Also, I tried to be detailed about describing Naruto's clothing. I wonder why, but I really hope some kindred soul would draw it. I repeat: I REALLY HOPE SOME KINDRED SOUL WOULD DRAW IT. If that's not a hint, I really dunno what is.**

**And review. Why? Cause I know you want to. **

**HokagenoNaruto, out.**


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

"Demon/Summon Speaking"

'Demon Thinking'

* * *

"Alright, I'm out here, away from civilization and mankind. What should I do first?"

Naruto currently stood in a forest clearing that was far from any civilization, or human activity in general. While not exactly a kid anymore, it still excited him to grow stronger. He was pumped, he was excited, and he was ready to rock and roll!

**'Are you sure you want to know? Do you want to know so badly about the totally exciting thing you'll be doing?'** Kyuubi asked, smirking to himself, preparing for Naruto's reaction.

"Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me-"

**'Alright, shut the hell up, please! And for the love of God, stop acting like a kid!'** Kyuubi shouted, annoyed.

"Jeez, you're no fun," Naruto said, pouting. Turning serious, he asked Kyuubi,

"Time to start?"

**'Yup, so you better get your ass into high gear.'**

"So, what's first?"

**'First...you meditate,' **Kyuubi said, smirking.

However, instead of being put down, or even mildly sad at not starting jutsu straight away, Naruto merely nodded, surprising Kyuubi.

**'I would've thought that you wouldn't like meditation?'** Kyuubi asked, confused on why Naruto wasn't suffering.

"You do remember when I first started learning **Sage Mode**, I had to meditate for 6 hours at a time just to get a connection, right? This is nothing."

**'Yeah...I kinda forgot...'**

"Smart," Naruto mocked.

**'Grr.'**

* * *

(**Timeskip- One Month Into The Training Trip)**

"Oi! Watch where the hell you're throwing those things! That almost killed me," Naruto yelled at his clones, furious. How dare they be so mean?

The clones just sweatdropped at their creator. "Uh, Boss, you do know that you told us to throw these at you so you could practice cutting them with wind?"

Naruto scowled. "That doesn't mean you have to try to kill me. If I die, you die too."

"Oh, so now you're saying that we won't die anyway after you're done training?"

"Hm...Good point," Naruto said, nodding thoughtfully. The clone who was talking scowled, before grinning. It turned to address its brothers, who stood at attention.

The clone made a grave face. "We're going to die. We all know that. That's why, we're gonna go all out now!"

Naruto, who was listening in, paled suddenly.

"Oh shit. Don't tell me..."

"Tonight, we dine in hell!" The lead clone yelled, eyes brimming with determination.

_"Aye!"_

"But let's make sure he goes first!" He yelled, riling up his comrades, eyes ablaze with fury.

_"Aye!"_

The clones set to work, picking up humongous chunks of earth, roaring wildly at their creator. As one, they fire.

_"Ha!"_

"Bring it on!"

With his war cry, Naruto charged the incoming boulders, fierce winds picking up around him, his face set in stone hard determination.

* * *

**(Timeskip- Four Months In)**

Naruto panted as he dodged another strike from the group of monstrosities he was currently engaged in battle with. He was currently here for an S-class mission to clear away a tribe of shadow demons that had situated themselves near an important mine deposit, preventing the miners from doing their work.

These opponents were particularly tricky, having intelligence and using every bit of it. They attacked with well-practiced teamwork. Not to mention their magic was very annoying. They could melt into the shadows, as implied by their name. With a few on him at all times to distract him, the ones hiding in the shadows would constantly ambush him at random intervals. Mixed with their extreme resistance and hard skin, as Naruto had learned the hard way by punching one with his bare hand, they were truly fearsome opponents. But not unbeatable.

One flew at him, claws extended, in an attempt to rip his face off. Naruto stood still, and when the claw was a few centimeters from his face, his eyes snapped open, in the distinct form of **Sage Mode**.

His hand shot up with extreme speed, breaking the claw apart. The demon reared back, hissing in pain, a new claw slowly reforming. Not allowing it to come back, Naruto rushed towards it with speed equal to Jet's **God Leg Magic**. He punched it, blasting it backwards into a boulder. He was slightly surprised when it wobbled to its feet, by grinned happily when it collapsed a moment after.

He wasn't given time to enjoy however, as another burst from the shadows. Not even glancing behind him, Naruto threw a quick blade of wind at the demon, cutting it in half from the waist, killing it and causing it to dissolve into shadows.

"Heh. You bastards can't hide from me in **Sage Mode**! Suck it motherfuckers!"

Wind picked up around Naruto, who was rapidly forming hand seals. "Get ready!"

**"Wind Style: Wind Blade Storm Dance!"**

The wind howled around him, countless wind blades spinning around him in a protective cocoon. Naruto jumped up high into the air, and dropped down, his leg chambered in the start of an axe kick. He brought his leg down.

Now, before this continues, imagine this. Naruto without **Sage Mode** could not do much damage if he were to kick the ground in a similar manner, maybe a small crater, as his body was built more for speed. Naruto in** Sage Mode**, however, was a totally different case.

The ground shook earth was picked up, moving in a wave away from him in a perfect circle around him, disrupting the shadows, and uncovering the hiding demons. With a roar he charged them.

From there, he fought like, ironically, a demon. The winds around him took care of most of the weaker, younger older ones who survived his rampage were taken care by him with a **Sage Mode** enhanced punch.

About 15 minutes later, almost all the demons were done for, except for one, who looked much larger, and more intimidating than the ones who he had slain. Naruto let the jutsu around him die down, also dropping his** Sage Mode**.

**"You have been very annoying, human,"** The large demon growled out, glaring with viciousness at Naruto, who glanced back impassively, not at all surprised by talking animals.

"Huh. I thought you didn't have developed vocal cords?"

**"Not all of us. Only the eldest of us. Now, like I was saying, you are rather strong human. Perhaps we should have accepted your kind offer for us to surrender,"** It said thoughtfully, before continuing.

**"No matter, however. You will die now."**

"Heh, bring it. But, can I know your name?"

**"I suppose you should remember the name of the one who shall kill you. I am Go'grosh, leader of the Set tribe of shadow demons."**

"I see. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, Sage. I'm sorry for taking the lives of your comrades."

Go'grosh waved it off. **"They will merely reform in the Underworld. However, you will have delayed the plans of the one who summoned us if you kill us. So, come, I will show you the power of a demon."**

"Demon, huh? I doubt you know," Naruto let out a feral grin, his eyes bleeding red.

"I **do**ub**t **yo**u kno**w **what a real demon is."**

**"Oh, how interesting. Come, show me a demon, and I will crush it."**

With wild cries, the two charged.

* * *

**(Timeskip- Seven Months Into The Training Trip)**

"How the hell do we stop this guy?!"

"I don't freaking know!"

"Dammit! Our attacks just keep getting batted away!"

These were the cries of various dark guild mages who were fighting, in their eyes, an unstoppable, berserk demon. Their attacks just kept getting batted aside like they were annoying flies, and the ones that hit bounced off. They had made about one lucky cut via a surprise sword, revealing that the 'demon' could be hurt by slash attacks, but since then, anyone who got close was easily cut down. It was also unfortunate that the scratch was minuscule, and was healed before their eyes a second later.

Naruto, who happened to be the demon they were fighting, grinned at them.

"I already told you guys, your weak attacks can't hurt me. Through my training, I've recently discovered that weak attacks will simply be stopped at my skin by the chakra that I naturally emit subconsciously. It acts as a shield, so as long as you hit me with that level of attack, I could stand hear all day, and you wouldn't even touch me. Of course, it still hurts if you aim for a vital spot, but it's not like I can't take a little pain."

"Come on you fools! Show this petty mage the power of one of the Dark Guilds that is part of the Balam Alliance!"

"Yes, Master!"

"Charge!"

As one, the fifty something mages charges their foe, screaming wildly, borderline animal-like, as they ran.

_"Rah!"_

* * *

**(Timeskip- Ten Months Into The Training Trip)**

Naruto currently had his eyes shut in concentration as he sat beneath an ice cold waterfall, meditating. He calmed his mind of the last night's events. Unfortunately, just leading his thoughts there caused him to growl.

"Those bastards...They killed her in cold blood."

_"Naruto-nii-chan, come quick and save_ _me!"_

Naruto shut his eyes. "...Dammit...Dammit all!"

_Her screams echoed through the building as the mage tortured her slowly in some sort of sick pleasure._

_"This is what you get for biting me, you little bitch."_

_This was what Naruto arrived to as he entered the building. He immediately fell into rage, and appeared behind the insane mage, and lopped off his head. He glanced down to the little girl who he had befriended on his most recent mission to take care of a Dark Guild._

_"...Mai...I'm sorry..."_

_Mai coughed. "It's alright Ni-chan. You tried your best."_

_She grinned weakly at him._

_"Thank you. Thank you for saving me mom, and our town. It's not your fault I died. Please don't blame yourself."_

_"How can I not?" Naruto said to her, his voice cracking._

_"Please, promise me. Promise me you won't."_

_"I...I promise Mai-imouto."_

_"Thanks Ni-chan."_

_With that, the kind little girl who had become a good friend of his passed away, a tiny smile present on her face._

_"...Dammit, Mai. Dammit!"_

_Naruto anguished cries echoed through the abandoned building._

**'Don't blame yourself kid.'**

"How can I not? Tell me, Kyuubi! If I had taken care of that mage faster, then I would've arrived in time to save her."

**'It was a freaking S-class mage!'** Kyuubi roared angrily, tired of the self-pity. '**We both witnessed his magic! While not the strongest, his tactics were to hide, and attack from a distance, and disappear again! He was meant to delay you, while the others looted the town! The girl, she got in the way, tried to stop them, and died for it! But she died protecting what she felt was precious, and thus she died a death worthy of respect! Not to mention, she wouldn't appreciate you bitching at yourself, especially after you promised her you wouldn't!'**

Naruto drew in a shaky breath, eyes wide, before chuckling weakly. "Man, not even a full day, and I already forgot my promise. You're right, Kyuubi. Thanks, fox. I needed that."

**'Che. If I let you mope around and bitch, then you wouldn't be able to train and grow strong. Now, get your ass back to meditating!"**

"Yosh!"

* * *

**(Timeskip- Eleven Months Into The Training Trip)**

'Come on...Almost there,' Naruto thought as he continued to gather chakra.

'Almost...there. So...close...'

"There!" He shouted as he got the correct amount of chakra.

He glanced at the attack in his hands. It had taken months, even with clones, to recreate this specific attack, to find the right amount of chakra to use to replicate the utterly devastating affects it had.

He whispered the attacks name, and the world was consumed by blinding white light.

A few minutes after the dust cleared, Naruto stared open-mouthed at the attack.

"I didn't think it would be that powerful. I would say that it's stronger than the original...Maybe I put more chakra than I actually needed?"

**'Probably.'**

Naruto turned and left the area. Behind him, in a relatively straight path, was completely flat land, and a hill made of various things that definitely hadn't been there before.

* * *

**(Timeskip- One Year Since The Start Of The Training Trip, Hargeon Town Rail Station)**

"Ah, excuse me sir, but are you alright?" A worried steward asked. He was currently standing above an unconscious pink-haired boy of about 16 years of age. The steward had been making rounds, and had come across this boy, who he had found lying in his current position. He had no idea what had happened, and was scared for the, in his eyes, poor boy.

"Ah, it's okay. It happens all the time," Came a voice from beside the steward. He turned, and was shocked to find a talking cat. Mages, he concluded.

"If you say so. I would like to let you know that the train has arrived at the station, so please, wake him up." With that, the steward turned and left, muttering about odd mages under his breath.

"Natsu, get up!" Happy said after the steward had left.

"Urgh."

"Look, it's Igneel!"

At this Natsu raised his head slightly. He got on his knees, and crawled to the door. He threw his body out, and upon leaving the train, fully straightened his body and landed in a crouch, grinning.

"Let's go, Happy!"

* * *

**(Another Part of Hargeon)**

A fairly tall man could be seen walking down the streets of Hargeon, reading something from a piece of paper. He had sun-kissed blond hair, and a tanned face with beautiful cerulean blue eyes and three peculiar whisker-like marks on each cheek. He was currently dressed in black pants, and a rust orange long-sleeved t-shirt, topped by a red trench coat with black flames licking the bottom. A sword sheath hung from his left side, and various pouches did the same from his legs.

"Hm, let's see. The mission is to find and arrest Bora, and former Titan Nose mage, who is believed to currently be involved in slavery and operating in Boston. Shouldn't be too hard."

**'This mission is boring. Get another one that has more action, Naruto, or else."**

The man grinned. 'Or what?'

**'You don't want the dreams to come back do you?'**

'Oh...God...'

**'Those dreams that you have, of Katsumi kneeling in front of you, your pants around you ankles and her-'**

'Shut up! You gave me those dreams in the first place, you perverted-ass fox! If you wanted to give me dreams, why not give me nightmares, and hope I break and free you or some other diabolical plan?'

**'Well obviously because I'm not stupid. Giving you of all people nightmares would probably make you cut me off, destroying any connection I have with the outside world, which would suck badly. Plus, the wet dreams make you so much more uncomfortable, which is so much more fun for me in seeing you squirm,'** Kyuubi informed Naruto, most likely smirking in his mind.

'I hate you. I'm cutting you off tonight,' Naruto said.

Kyuubi laughed nervously. **'Come now, Naruto, no need to be so touchy. You know I was kidding, right?'**

'You're dead to me.'

**'You know it's a possibility that your dumbass Hokage of a hairless ape father most likely tied our souls together for eternity if you don't release me, or if I don't get out?'**

Naruto frowned. 'Don't insult Dad, just 'cause you're jealous of him.'

**'Why the hell would I be jealous of your daddy dearest?'**

'Maybe because he's better at sealing than you are?'

**'What the hell?! I don't even have opposable thumbs, how the hell am I supposed to learn how to seal? I wouldn't be able to hold the brush, dumbass. And you ask why the hell I call you brainless?'**

Naruto ignored him, concentrating on walking, and his current job. 'So, from his banishment from Titan Nose due to using charm magic, I'm guessing that he probably is a pervert, and chances are, girls are the slaves that he traffics for the most part. So...'

Naruto's eyes twinkled.

'I'll give him a girl alright.'

* * *

"How much is this sir?" A beautiful blonde-haired girl asked the store owner. She was dressed in a dark blue skirt, with a brown belt holding it up, and a t-shirt with a blue and white stripe pattern running vertically along it.

"Twenty thousand Jewels," The owner said.

"I wonder how much it is," She asked him again, beginning to smile coyly.

"Twenty thousand Jewels," He repeated once more.

"I said, I wonder how much it really this." She leaned on the counter, pulling down her zipper, revealing cleavage and smiling seductively.

The owner paused, taking in her form.

"Nineteen thousand Jewels," He said.

* * *

"I can't believe it! My sex appeal was only worth a thousand Jewels!" The same blonde-haired woman raged. It was outrageous! Surely, her worth in sheer sexiness was more than a thousand Jewels. That owner clearly needed his eyes checked, she decided to console herself, clearly depressed.

"Is it true that he's here? The Salamander?"

"Yeah, look!"

The cries of the two brunette girls pulled her from her depression. She perked up at the name of the 'Salamander', the famous Fairy Tail mage who used **Fire Magic** that could not be bought at stores. Now, one thing you should know about our mysterious little blonde is that she absolutely _loved_ Fairy Tail. She was obsessed with it. Simple as that. She also aspired to one day join the infamous guild, but did not know any way to go about doing that.

With those thoughts in mind, it was obvious when she rushed over to where the girls had headed. There was a crowd of girls surrounding something, which couldn't be made out clearly with all the people. She pushed her way to the front.

She stumbled to the front, and saw him. He was tall, with deep, navy blue hair. He was fairly muscular, with the chiseled jaw. Overall, he did not look to spectacular, but her heart began beating wildly, ready to jump out of her chest at a moment's notice. She began blushing, and feeling hot all over, yet she could not figure out why. It was as if she had just magically fallen in love with him. Had she been more clear-minded at the time, she would've suspected **Charm Magic** to be at work.

_"Igneel!" _A loud, boisterous voice called out, shaking her from her magic-induced love stupor.

She blinked. Barreling through the group of girls came a pink-haired boy, with a blue cat floating above him. His hair was unruly, spiking in all directions, and he had a young-looking face. He wore baggy, light grey pants, with an opened no-sleeved vest over-top.

He got up, stared at 'Salamander', and tilted his head in confusion.

"Eh? You're not Igneel."

'Salamander' laughed good-naturedly. "No, I am not who you speak of. But you may have heard of me! I am the 'Salamander' of Fairy Tail! Would you care for an autograph, little boy?"

"Nope," The boy said offhandedly, already turning to leave, his cat in tow, causing 'Salamander' to fall to the ground at his bluntness. The girls surrounding him growled, and immediately pounced.

"Now, now, ladies, please, leave the poor kid alone," 'Salamander' said, deciding to play the good guy. They agreed immediately.

_"Yes, Salamander-Sama!"_

They turned their attention back to 'Salamander', who waved them goodbye. Purple flames encircled him, and lifted him off the ground.

**"Fire Magic: Red Carpet!"**

He levitated a few feet off the ground, and turned his head to address them.

"I'm having a party on my yacht tonight. I would love it if you all were to come."

He gave them one last winning smile, causing the girls to swoon, and flew off.

* * *

The girl from earlier frantically rushed in the direction she'd seen the pink-haired boy go in. Seeing him up ahead, she increased her speed and ran towards him.

"Excuse me!"

He stopped, and turned to face her. "Eh? Who are you?"

She stopped in front of him, and bent to catch her breath. "Hi! My name is Lucy Heartfilia. I wanted to say thank you. You saved me from that 'Salamander' earlier by breaking his spell on me, so I wanted to find some way to repay you."

At that moment, Natsu's stomach chose to growl, giving her an idea.

"How about I treat you to lunch?" She asked him.

"Really?! You mean it?!" His eyes gained hearts, and he dropped to his knees, and grabbed her hand.

She sweatdropped. "Well, yeah, I said I would repay you, right?"

* * *

The girl, Lucy, was beginning to regret her decision as she watched the boy eat. The table was filled with empty, and used dishes from the food that he had breezed through. He was currently on his last one- she hoped, because her wallet was nearing emptiness- and was almost finished. The cat was just as worse, who was eating the fish at rapid paces, almost as fast as the boy.

With a satisfied sigh, he slammed his bowl onto the table, and called,

"More!"

Lucy began crying, reassuring herself that it had been for a good cause, and who knows what would've happened had he not come.

"So, what's your name?" She asked him after she calmed down.

He paused from his new bowl, and looked at her.

"I'm Natsu. This is Happy," He said, gesturing to the cat.

"Hi!" Happy said, freaking her out.

"Eh?! A talking cat?!" She screamed, eyes bugged out as she stared at Happy.

"Yeah," He said as if it was the most common thing the world. Honestly, how many blue, _talking_ cats have you seen?

"Right. So, why are you and Happy here?" She asked, changing the subject. Anymore of this talk about blue cats would probably drive her insane. Probably.

"We're looking for Igneel," Natsu said vaguely, resuming his eating.

"Well, what does Igneel look like?"

This got Natsu going. "He's super huge! He has red coloured scales, and super sharp claws. His wingspan is around eighty feet across-"

She cut him off. "Hold up! What is Igneel?"

Happy gave her a look that said _'Are you stupid?'_.

"He's a dragon, obviously!"

"...And you would think that a huge dragon would just be in a random city, and everyone would be acting normal why?" She deadpanned.

Natsu stopped eating. He looked up, opened his mouth, and closed it again.

"Yeah, I got nothing."

"Okay then. Anyway, you and Happy have fun. I'll be going now."

With that she walked off, leaving Natsu and happy to their thoughts.

"What a strange girl."

"Aye."

* * *

Lucy was lying on a bench, flipping through the latest copy of _Weekly Sorcerer_. She stopped at a picture of Mirajane, Fairy Tail's cover girl, and also, in the opinions of many, one of the cutest girls alive.

"Kya! She's so pretty!"

She turned the page once more, and read the article titled _'Fairy Tail Strikes Again, Destroying Acres of Land'._ She sighed longingly.

"I wish I could join."

She began thinking of how awesome Fairy Tail was, and how it was the best guild ever. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by a voice behind her.

"So you want to join Fairy Tail?"

She spun around, surprised, and saw 'Salamander' standing there, giving her a smirk.

"Eh? What do you want?" She said, her voice

"As you know, I am holding a party on my yacht. I would certainly _love_ it if you came."

"No way I'm going to party of some creep like you!" Lucy yelled at him. She was pretty pissed at him. The freaking nerve! How dare he put her under charm magic!

'Salamander', or rather Bora as he was to his subordinates frowned. He had been attempting to put her under his magic since he came here, yet there was no results. She certainly would sell for a lot, if he could just capture her. With her blonde hair, chocolate brown eyes, and well developed body, he could make a fortune from this.

"Don't even bother! Now that I know about your **Charms Magic**, it won't have any effect on me!" Lucy said, crossing her arms and letting out a 'harrumph' of victory.

Bora frowned. He wasn't giving up that easily.

"Ahaha, sorry about that. I swear I wasn't going to do anything," He said, attempting to get her mind off of said topic.

Lucy sweatdropped.

'How stupid does he think I am?'

She turned on her heel, leaving. "Whatever! I'm leaving."

Bora watched her slowly walking away, desperately thinking of ways to stop her. His eyes lit up.

"Wait!" He called.

Lucy turned around, more on instinct than anything else.

"What?!" She yelled, still peeved.

"You wanted to join Fairy Tail, correct?"

She nodded.

"I can get you in."

Lucy froze, then looked at him. She couldn't believe it. It had to be a lie.

"Re...Really?"

"Of course," Bora told her with confident nod and smile.

"Yatta! I'm gonna join Fairy Tail! I'm gonna join Fairy Tail!"

She continued to jump around in joy, causing Bora to smirk. He should've just done that from the start.

"Anyway. Be at the party, then we'll go. And, oh, about that **Charms Magic**..." He trailed off, giving her a subtle hint.

She looked at him, faking confusion. "What **Charms Magic**?"

Bora smiled, and left, saying nothing else. He could practically feel the money already weighing down his pocket.

Lucy stopped celebrating suddenly after he disappeared. She looked confused, then remembered what happened. She stomped her foot on the ground, angry.

"Dammit! I fell for it again!"

She gained a happy expression, her previous mood disappearing.

"Whatever! I'm joining Fairy Tail! It's not like Salamander will turn out to be some fake and try to sell me off into the life of a slave."

Who cared if he seemed creepy? Fairy Tail was worth it.

She continued her celebrations, not noticing the pair of blue eyes looking at her before shifting their focus onto the retreating Salamander, who was now but a speck in the distance.

'So that's my target. Huh. I could swear I've seen him before. I wonder from where?'

* * *

Bora was extremely pleased with himself at the moment. All the girls attracted by his charm had been pretty, which the customers, both male, and female. like. And the star of the show, the blonde bombshell that had been easily enraptured by him using the Fairy Tail name. Oh, how life was good.

However, Bora wouldn't automatically assume he had won. One year ago, he had been taught that lesson very harshly. He would be careful. Of course, this was sure to be his victory, especially since the man that had defeated him, and taken from him his fortune was not here, nor anywhere near.

'When I find him, he will pay. I've trained for days, just for this one moment, to take down that retched man. Vengeance will be mine,' Bora thought to himself darkly.

'You are a fool, Wind Shadow, to think that I would not have glimpsed your face, enough to know exactly who you are from the descriptions.'

"A-ano."

A petite, slightly coy voice from behind Bora pulled him from his dark thoughts of vengeance and murder. He turned, finding something unexpected.

He turned around, and was stunned. Simply stunned. Standing in front of him was another blonde beauty, looking of about sixteen years. Her golden blonde hair was lustrous, and her cerulean blue eyes deep. Her finger was on her lip, attached to a petite and soft hand, unmarred from the scars and callouses that covered his own. She was dressed in a purple t-shirt, and a blue skirt the hiked up to mid-thigh.

He schooled his features. With some luck, she too would be captured into his web. Of course, the boys were getting rowdy, so he might just give her to them to do as they so pleased.

"Yes? How may I help you?"

"Ano, you are Salamander-sama, correct?"

Bora smiled. This was going easier than he thought. "Of course. How may I help you?"

The girl became more nervous. "I-I heard you were having a party. I was wondering if I could go too?"

Bora smiled kindly. "Of course. Who would deny a pretty girl like yourself? Come at seven, dear. I will be waiting."

The girls face brightened.

"Thank you!"

With that she turned around and ran off, muttering to herself about something, though Bora could hear mentions of make-up, and a new dress in there with his acute hearing.

'Woman', he thought amusedly.

* * *

"So, how'd it go?"

"See for yourself, boss."

It was the girl from before, yet her voice didn't quite match her, sounding as a gruff, masculine voice, rather than the petite, feminine tone it had had minutes before.

The girl went up in smoke, leaving Naruto pondering.

"Wow, I swear I've seen his face from somewhere. But where?"

* * *

Lucy sat rather comfortably on the plush sofa of the cabin she had been assigned to wait in. She had to admit, Salamander had class, what with the expensive furniture lying around. Of course, she had seen better during her days in the Heartfilia Household, but it was impressive nonetheless.

She wished that this party would just be over with already. She wanted to hurry up and join Fairy Tail! Plus, there was no one around to accompany her, so she was getting rather bored. And it was hot. While the dress she currently had adorned fit her perfectly, and wasn't too dark of s shade that it should accumulate heat, especially at night, Lucy felt oddly hot. It was as if the very floor she was above was burning.

"This is so boring!" She decided after a few more minutes.

As if her prayers were being answered, the knob clicked open, and in walked 'Salamander'.

"Good evening. You look stunning," He complimented her.

She smiled fakely, thanking him.

"Now, if I could get your name? It was rather rude of me not to catch it earlier," He asked her curiously.

"It's Lucy."

He smiled easily. "Lucy? Why, that's such a pretty name."

"Thank you," She said, keeping up her expression of fake happiness at being complimented.

He turned, grabbing an expensive looking bottle of wine and two glasses. He set them upon the table.

"Now, why don't we begin with a toast of wine?"

Lucy hesitated. He was getting a bit creepy now.

"Don't you have other girls to attend to?" She asked.

"It's alright. Right now, I feel like drinking with only you."

He snapped his fingers, and spheres of wine drifted up.

He smirked, extremely satisfied with himself. "Open your mouth. The pearls of wine will slowly come in."

Lucy was annoyed at his antics.

'Just a little more. Just let me hang on for a little more.'

She reluctantly opened her mouth wide, and a pearl of wine floated in, slowly as promised. Just before it was completely inserted, Lucy caught a sniff. It smelled like no wine she had ever scented.

Her eyes went wide, and she quickly jerked herself back and slapped it aside.

"What are you planning," She said standing up, her expression harsh.

He merely looked on, the expression on his face pissing her off.

"That was a sleeping drug, wasn't it?"

He smirked, amused. "Oh, so you caught on? How surprising."

She frowned.

"Don't misunderstand me. I want to join Fairy Tail, but I have no intention of becoming your girl."

'Salamander' let out a deranged smile.

"You're such a bad girl. If you had just slept peacefully, you wouldn't have had to get hurt."

Lucy was about to reply with some smartass comment, but was suddenly seized by someone behind her. Her arms were placed behind her back, and she looked to see two burly men holding them down.

'There's no way I can break free of them.'

The one on her left spoke, smiling perversely.

"Good one Salamander-sama."

"We haven't had a pretty one in such a long time."

Lucy was confused. What the hell was happening?

"What's going on?!" She yelled out, a hint of fear bleeding into her voice.

"Who are you?!"

Instead of answering, 'Salamander' grabbed her chin, and jerked her face to meet his own.

"Welcome to our slave ship. Please, I must ask you to stay silent until we reach Bosco."

Lucy was speechless. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

"What about Fairy Tail?!" She yelled out, desperation prominent on her face as she struggled to break her bonds.

Bora chuckled. "I already told you. This is a slave ship. I brought you in as merchandise. I must admit, you are rather pretty. A lot of slavers usually need some, ah, relaxation after a harsh day of work. I'm sure that you'll fit the bill."

"So please, just give up."

Lucy was silent, digesting his words. She knew exactly what he meant. Was this her fate?

"No. No! _No!_"

Her voice grew louder with each progressive 'no' as she attempted to deny her fate.

The men laughed at her struggling.

"You thought this one well, Salamander-Sama. When girls are affected by your charm, they fawn to become our merchandise."

"But it seems that charm won't work on this little lady. So we'll just have to train her a little bit."

They let out perverted laughs. Lucy looked down, her eyes wide.

'N-no. This isn't happening. What is he? How can someone be so cruel?'

Tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes as she continued to curse his name silently. Suddenly, she felt a hand moving up her thigh, and up the slit of her dress. She clenched her eyes shut. However, the hand stopped at something, and she sighed in relief.

This changed a moment later when she felt a harsh tug at the object, and 'Salamander' looking inquisitive as he held up the object.

'My keys!'

He examined them. "The keys of the gates, huh? I see, so you're a stellar spirit mage."

The men around him gathered around, and looked at the keys.

"Eh? Stellar spirit? What's that?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Only contracted users can use them, meaning..."

He looked cruelly back at Lucy, who watched with growing horror.

"That they are no use to me."

He a flick of his wrist, he threw them out of the open window, and into open sea.

This time, the tears flowed freely. Tears of despair, and raw anger.

'So this is a mage of Fairy Tail?! Was all that great stuff I heard just fake?!'

'Salamander' walked forward and grabbed a cane. He twirled it around a bit, then pointed the butt end at her, which was smoking furiously.

"Now, just let me brand you as a slave. It'll be a bit hot, so please bear it."

She grit her teeth, glaring daggers at 'Salamander'.

"Abusing magic. Cheating people. Worst of all, performing slavery."

_"You're the worst kind of mage!"_

He merely chuckled, and walked towards her, when suddenly, the ceiling exploded in a shower of wooden splinters, and in fell Natsu, who landed on the flooring, his face set in grim determination, and Happy, who merely floated on his wings above the opening, though Lucy was too preoccupied staring at Natsu to notice.

"The brat from before?!"

"Natsu?!"

The ship lurched, and Natsu was suddenly on his knees barfing his heart out.

"I...I can't take it."

_"That's so freaking lame!"_

Lucy stared at Natsu. Part of her was glad that she was possibly being saved. The other part of her however was wondering how the pink-haired boy that was on his knees could possibly save her.

"What the fuck is going on? Why would a boy fall from the sky?!"

'Salamander' was screaming, attempting to comprehend this madness.

"But boss, look, he's already got motion sickness," One of his men pointed out.

Happy suddenly swooped in, and grabbed Lucy, pulling her out of the ship.

"Eh? Happy? You have wings?"

"Let's get out of here."

"Wait! What about Natsu?!"

Happy looked sheepish, though not too particularly worried about his partner.

"I can't carry too people."

They flew out, but 'Salamander' threw his hand up, fire coming forth in attempts to stop them.

"I won't let you get away!"

The purple flames exploded outward, blowing past through the ship, hurling debris at them. Luckily, Happy managed to avoid, though it was shaky and rough.

'Salamander' growled.

"Don't let them get away! It'll be a problem if that girl reports to the Magic Council!"

His lackeys immediately went outside on order, and fired at Happy and Lucy. Their aim was atrocious, and the bullets missed by a longshot.

Back in the air, Happy looked down at Lucy.

"Um, Lucy? Listen."

"What is it at a time like this?!"

"...My transformation effect has worn off..."

Lucy was about to ask what he meant when she suddenly felt herself falling towards the water at a ridiculous speed.

"Screw you!" She yelled just before hitting the water.

The men shooting at them looked confused, then shrugged, thinking they had gotten her, and left.

* * *

Naruto stretched widely as he got up, surveying the area around him. The thugs that Bora had sent to detain him were easily defeated by him, and were lying unconscious, scattered across the room.

It had been a joke getting into this place. Now he just needed to take care of Bora, hand him over to the Rune Knights, and back to Fairy Tail he went.

He wondered how everyone was doing. He knew for sure they had all gotten stronger, constantly hearing reports of the Salamander leaving destruction in his wake, or of the Flaming Beauty dealing with her opponents with elegance and grace. He couldn't wait to be back.

The training trip had been hard, that was for sure, and he had made tons of progress. He had heard rumors of a parallel world to Earthland, called Edolas, though he had yet to confirm such a thing. If such a thing was possible, then surely it was possible to get back to his own.

He had attempted summoning toads, but somehow, the connection would not form. It was as if he was punching a wall of five feet thick diamond every time he attempted it. So, he tried another approach by studying **Seal Magic**.

His project was to form a connection to the toads once more, and have them reverse summon him back. He would leave a marker of sorts in this place, and even get Shima to create another one of those freaky teleportation pools of water she used. He didn't quite want to leave all his friends from this dimension behind.

He looked out the window upon feeling a spike of energy. He blinked.

"Is it just me, or is there a huge ass wave coming towards the boat?"

"...Nope. It's not just me."

The wave hit the boat, sending it careening towards the shore, all of its passengers moving along with it.

_"Fuck!"_

* * *

Bora stood up shakily. His head was splitting. What the hell had hit them?

"The rocking. It stopped."

Bora looked up to see the Natsu glaring at him.

At that moment, Lucy burst into the room.

"Natsu! Are you okay?!"

She stopped upon seeing him. This was the most serious she had ever seen upon his face in the short time she had known him for. It was rather intimidating.

"Hmph. You shouldn't come aboard other people's ships without permission, brat. Throw him out."

Lucy immediately readied herself, ready to summon another stellar spirit.

"We have to save him!"

"Don't worry," Happy said to her.

"I kind of forgot to tell you, but Natsu's a mage too."

Natsu continued to glare at Bora, before saying.

"Are you a mage of Fairy Tail?"

Bora smirked. "Yeah, I am. What of it?"

Natsu's eyes narrowed. "Let me get a good look at your face."

He continued to stare at Bora, who stood there cockily, ready to pummel the brat.

Natsu suddenly burst into action, and punched two of his cronies and sent them flying with practiced ease.

"I am Natsu of Fairy Tail, and I have never seen you there before!" He declared, shocking everyone who heard.

"Eh?! Natsu if a mage of Fairy Tail?!" Lucy exclaimed out. The unimpressive boy from before was a mage, and one of Fairy Tail! She couldn't believe it!

He threw off his jacket, revealing his Fairy Tail mark on his right arm, proudly displayed for all to see, further confirming his statement.

"Oh shit, that mark! He's the real deal Bora-San!"

"Don't call me by that name!" He screamed back. They weren't supposed to know that name!

"Hmph. Bora of Prominence. He was banished from the guild 'Titan Nose' a few years back for using magic for thefts and other crimes. Frankly, he's rather disgusting," A voice came from behind Lucy and Happy, who immediately turned to see who it was.

"Oh, it's Naruto." Happy said, not really paying attention, before his eyes bugged out a moment later.

"It's Naruto!"

"What's up?" He said, smiling brightly.

"...You know Mirajane and Natsu are angry at you?"

"How come?"

Happy took a moment to think. "Well, Natsu because he wanted to come along, and you never told him, and Mirajane because I think she was on her period when she was told, and she just started spazzing."

Naruto sweatdropped. "Way to explain it Happy."

Lucy was wide eyed. She had just found out that Natsu was from Fairy Tail, and standing before her, from their short talk, was another member, one who was familiar with Mirajane herself! This couldn't get any better, could it?

"Well anyway, I was here on a mission to get Bora, and then I was gonna come back."

"So, are you going to help Natsu?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah. The kid's strong. He's got this. I've been reading all the reports."

"You know everyone in Fairy Tail knows your nickname, right?" Happy asked.

"Really? How'd they find out?" Naruto exclaimed. It couldn't have been that easy.

"You also know that there's not many mages with your description, right? Dumb blond."

Naruto's eye twitched.

"Now, now, Happy. I know we're having a moment here, but that doesn't mean I won't smash your head in."

Lucy butted in, now curious as to whom exactly this mysterious mage (to her) was.

"Um, Naruto-San, what exactly is your nickname."

"Naruto's nickname is-"

Happy's voice was drowned out by Bora yelling.

"Whatever! It doesn't matter if you can't forgive me! You're still a noisy brat!"

He sent a gigantic ball of flame in Natsu's direction, who stood calmly, allowing to consume him without too much worry.

"Oh no!" Lucy yelled, running forward, but was stopped by Happy's voice.

"Don't worry. Natsu's not done yet."

Lucy settled down, and looked back at the flames, and was shocked to hear a voice speaking.

"Awful."

The flames were slowly sucked inwards, revealing Natsu's unscathed figure. He was eating the fire.

"Is that it? Are you sure you're a fire mage? Because I've never tasted such awful fire before."

"...Eh?!" Both Lucy and Bora cried out at the same time, astonished.

The flames cleared fully, revealing Natsu smirking.

"Thank you for the food, despite how shitty it was."

Bora was shocked. Just what the hell was this brat?

"He-he just ate the fire!"

"I've never seen such magic before!"

"Hah! Fire won't work on Natsu," Happy's voice intoned.

Natsu leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees.

"I'm all fired up!"

He sucked in a breath, fire igniting randomly around him.

A man beside Bora squinted his eyes, before they went wide in fearful recognition.

"Bora-San! I've seen him before! Rosy hair, and a scale patterned scarf! There's no doubt about it! He's the real Salamander!"

Natsu blew out a ball of fire, engulfing Bora and his mean easily.

"Salamander," Lucy whispered, amazed. So this was the actual thing. He was nothing like the fake at all.

Natsu barreled into the groups of men, flames erupting from his arms at random intervals, which shot at his targets with deadly speed and precision.

"Natsu's so much stronger now," Naruto remarked.

"Punching with fire, eating it...Is that even magic?"

Happy nodded. "A dragon's lungs spew flames, the scales melt flames, and its nails are coated in fire. **Fire Dragon Slayer Magic**- an ancient spell that converts the body to a dragon's constitution. Also, it can only be taught by a dragon. Natsu was taught by his father, Igneel, the fire dragon."

"I-I see."

Naruto patted her shoulder sympathetically.

"Don't worry. I still don't understand how on Earth that's possible. But I guess that's magic for you."

Lucy shook her head hesitantly. "Yeah, I guess. It's just that, why would a dragon teach someone how to kill them?"

Naruto and Happy shrugged. "Who knows?"

"If we knew, we would tell you... Stupid."

Lucy grit her teeth. Happy was really getting on her nerves. She would drown that damned cat once she got the chance. She looked around, deciding to move away from the negative thoughts. **Dragon Slayer Magic** was really amazing, but...

"..._Why the hell is it so destructive?! You're destroying the whole damn port!"_

"Aye."

_"Don't 'aye' me!"_ She screamed at Happy, who jumped at her voice.

"Are you on your peri-"

Naruto grabbed Happy, and buried his face into the ground quickly.

"You don't want to complete that sentence. It's dangerous, my friend."

* * *

Natsu was currently busy swallowing the flame attacks that Bora was giving him for free. Contrary to what he had said earlier, they were rather good. Only they tasted like grapes. And Grey loved grapes. Thus, he hated them.

"You damn brat! I'll kill you!"

**"Flame Magic: Prominence Whip!"**

Sharp tendrils of fire sped towards Natsu, who didn't even bother blocking them- they were simply too weak to even scratch him. Instead he simply made his way to Bora, who was freaking out at this brat blocking, eating, or just plain taking every attack he sent.

Natsu's flame coated fist was cocked back by the time he appeared in front of Bora, who struggled to throw up a hasty defense. He was too slow however as Natsu's fist was quickly planted into his stomach, stopping any movements Bora was making.

Oddly, Bora didn't feel too much pain. It was as if the attack was only meant to stop his struggling, and that was that. But then why was his fist still there? And why was he smiling so viciously?

Suddenly, fire erupted from Natsu's elbow, and his entire arm suddenly propelled forward. Bora was sent flying, quite literally flying, back, spittle coming out of his mouth.

"Argh!"

He hesitantly got up. He would not lose. Not until he got his revenge! Not until he found him again!

Bora suddenly stopped, staring at something behind Natsu. He squinted just to be sure. His head was spinning after all. He might by hallucinating. But it was _him_. The bastard who humiliated him. The one who took his most prized possession (in his mind).

"You fucking bastard! You dare show yourself! No matter! Because you're gonna die!"

Natsu stopped walking towards the fake. He was confused. Who the hell was he talking to?

Naruto glanced around him, then looked at himself. Was he the one who was being called bastard? He guessed it couldn't be Lucy, because then Bora would've said bitch. And he was pretty sure this was the first time Happy and Bora had seen each other in person. He pointed at himself.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!" Bora yelled at him. Did he not realize that he was the reason for his rage? Did he not remember?

"Um. Well, sorry for whatever I did?"

Natsu glanced back at whoever Bora was talking to, seeing Naruto.

"Oh, it's just Naruto."

"Wait._ It's freaking Naruto! You bastard! How dare you not bring me along to get stronger! I'll kick your ass!"_

Naruto sweatdropped.

"Hey Natsu. What's up? He said, totally ignoring Bora.

"Don't ignore me!"

"Oh yeah, you. One second Natsu. We'll talk after I talk to him and kick his ass."

"Hmph. You can talk to him. But no kicking his ass. That's me."

"Fine."

Bora was seething more and more as the seconds passed. How dare they write him off like that? Was he not threatening enough?

"Hey! Don't talk like I'm not here!"

"Geez, calm yourself. So, where do I know you from?"

Bora's jaw dropped. He really didn't remember?!

"Don't you remember? One year ago! When you took the Sandai Kitetsu from me?!"

Naruto squinted at him, looking at him carefully and attempting to remember where he had seen him from. A memory of him knocking out and extremely fat blue-haired man with a similar complexion flashed threw his mind, and his eyes lit up in recognition.

"Ah! You're that guy who was trying to steal the sword! Weren't you, like, really...large?"

"You're right! I was! But my hatred for you and need for revenge made me train like a mad dog! All to kill you for the humiliation! You will die!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Listen dude. All this revenge stuff will get you nowhere. And all because you lost a sword that wasn't yours in the first place. What kind of shallow thing is that?"

"I don't care!" Bora's face was crazed now, as if he had lost all common reason.

"You are going to die!"

"I see." Naruto shook his head sadly.

"It's because of people like you that there is not peace in the world. But I'm gonna change that."

"By doing what? Ridding the world of our disgrace? Ha! So you are merely a slave to the false belief of the Council's justice!"

Naruto shook his head. "You're right. I will rid the world of evil. But not in the way you are thinking. True peace can only be obtained when everyone wants it, good or bad! I know it's naive, and that not everyone can be changed, but I can do my damn best and try!"

"Hmph. Do what you want. It changes nothing. I'll defeat Salamander, and then you. I'll take the girl, and the cat would be amusing too, I suppose."

Naruto shook his head in sadness.

"Whatever. Natsu, he's all yours."

Natsu grinned.

"Gladly."

He blew out a blast of fire that easily took out Bora, knocking him unconscious. Just before he hit the ground, Naruto appeared underneath him, and quickly tied him with rope to a surviving lamp post.

"That should hold him."

A steady thumping filled the air as something raced to them. With their acute hearing, all fours of the conscious mages present heard a voice call out.

"Hey! What's going on?!"

Naruto was about to check who it was when Natsu suddenly panicked.

"Oh shit! Naruto, Happy, it's the Rune Knights!"

"Shit! Run!"

They quickly ran away, with Happy tailing behind them, leaving Lucy behind.

Natsu appeared back beside her suddenly, and grabbed her hand, pulling her along as he resumed his running.

"Wait! What are you doing?"

"You wanted to join Fairy Tail, right?! Well then, come on!"

Lucy's eyes went wide. It was happening! It really was happening!

She was going to join Fairy Tail!

* * *

**Oh my freaking god. That was the longest chapter in this story. Like, really. the amount of words was OVER 9000! sorry, had to add that in. Really though, it took long to write, and I now understand the horror authors face when writing super long chaps. Anyway, I hope you all liked it. I kinda got lazy near the end, as the writing quality deteriorates. I hope you liked the training trip, which had the most detail in it. It was also the most fun to write.**

**Well, anyway, canons getting into high gear. To answer the question now, Naruto WILL NOT be stealing Natsu's parts. I will be making original missions for him that involve more about Grimoire Hearts and the Balam Alliance, as the demon summoning suggests. He will be there for more of the main parts, such as the Phantom Lord Arc.**

**Review cause you love me.**

**HokagenoNaruto, out**


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

**"Demon/Summon Speaking"**

**'Demon Thinking'**

* * *

It was a nice sunny day. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and it was a clear day, with no clouds in sight. It was perfect. An epitome of peace. That is, until a sound interrupted it.

BAM!

The sound was extremely loud, causing the birds to fly off, startled. It was coming from the guild house of Fairy Tail, and so the locals ignored it, accustomed to random, crazy noises coming from the guild, among many things. It was also followed by a scream. Not uncommon, but only heard around the times **Titania** Erza returned- about once a month. This was the second time.

"Ah! Forgive me!"

CRASH!

BAM!

"No!"

"...Methinks she doesn't forgive me," Naruto muttered to himself, dodging chairs thrown at him by Mirajane. Yes, Mirajane. He had underestimated the fearful look Natsu's eyes had gained when he had told him that Mirajane was angry at him. He didn't understand it at the time. What was so scary about poor, kind, innocent, pure-hearted, Mira-chan?

It was unfortunate that Naruto didn't know about her history as **The Demon** Mirajane. Poor Naruto.

It truly was unfortunate for Naruto that his disappearing suddenly had reminded Mirajane of Lisanna's tragic death, and shocked her back into a partial demon form, upon which she almost tore up Magnolia Town searching for him.

Almost.

Luckily, it wasn't a full transformation, and using it after so many years had made her rusty. Her rampage was finally stopped by the combined efforts of Natsu, Gray, Cana, and Elfman, who were all later put into the hospital for the various injuries that littered their bodies.

Naruto was only partially lucky in that aspect. Her full transformation was still out of her grasp, but she had resumed her training, and had a terrifying mastery of her partial form.

Let it never be said that **The Demon** Mirajane was useless without her full form.

Naruto ducked hastily as he once more dodged a lightning-fast punch from Mirajane.

"Stop trying to kill me!" He yelled at her frantically. God, this Mira was scary!

"No! Take your beating like a fucking man, you pussy!"

It also seemed her demonic attitude took over while using **Satan Soul**. Naruto was so shocked by her words, he almost couldn't dodge the roudhouse kick that was making its way to him.

"Woah!"

He jumped up, his knees hitting his chest as he dodged the leg. Behind him, a few chairs and a table were cut in half by the sheer sharp magic energy given off.

He gulped, then breathed a quick sigh of relief, thankful he hadn't been hit by that.

His relief quickly turned into fear however as he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned hesitantly, now face to face with Mirajane, who had an even more pissed off look on her face, her fist cocked back.

"Oh shi-!"

Her fist shot forward, knocking Naruto's head down, almost burying it into the ground.

Naruto slowly got up, only to fall back down a moment later when he felt a weight on top of him.

It was Mirajane, hugging the life out of him, now back to normal.

"Idiot. Why couldn't you have told us anything? I was so worried."

"I'm...sorry."

Naruto was shocked. He didn't expect Mirajane to be so emotional about his leaving.

"No, don't be. I understand you had to do what you did. Just...don't do that again. Please. Promise me."

Tears were gathering in her eyes as she recalled how Natsu had burst into the room, yelling that he couldn't find Naruto anywhere, and that his scent was faded.

Naruto smiled, bringing his hand up, wiping them away.

"I promise."

It ached him to say it. What if he could never come back once he found a way back? What if his plan failed, and the seals didn't work? But he did it anyway, for her sake. She was a precious person, and Naruto didn't like it when his precious people cried.

"Thank you."

"So. Are we good?" He asked. He didn't want her to be angry. She wouldn't give him ramen if she was.

"No."

"What?"

He checked his ears. He was sure he was hearing things. Did Mira say she was still angry? That would be bad.

"I'm still angry. Thus, as punishment, no ramen for...a month."

Naruto froze, his eyes wide. Impossible. She didn't just say that. He could't believe it. He wouldn't believe it!

He fell backward, knocked out from the sheer amount of time he couldn't have ramen.

Mirajane giggled, which was joined in by Katsumi, and soon the whole guild was laughing in joy.

The family was complete, and all was well.

...For now.

* * *

"Quite the rowdy bunch, eh?"

"Yeah. It's as if they've gotten worse since I left, old man."

The old man, or Master Makarov, as he was known to most people, grinned. "No, you've just been gone too long, Naruto. Though I feel the progress was worth it, I believe."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah. I learned a lot."

Makarov chuckled. "Your friends were quite intent on following your movements. I must say, you are quite a topic among the ladies here at Fairy Tail, Mr. Famous S-Class Mage."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. He wasn't that famous. Right?

"C'mon. I just do what's right. And I'm not that famous."

Makarov snorted loudly, taking a sip from his cup of beer. "My boy, you're quite popular with the younger mages. Much like Natsu is Salamander, and inspires people, you do the same with your famous title. Many people believe you to be strong, and more than powerful enough to join the Ten Wizard Saints."

Naruto blinked. This was new. "The Ten Wizard Saints? Aren't they like, the strongest mages in the land?"

Makarov nodded. "Yup. Like me."

This caused Naruto to stare at him quizzically.

"What?! I am! Really!"

Naruto shook his head. "...Just...forget it."

Makarov cried silently.

"Kids these days. No respect."

* * *

It was currently night, and Naruto was standing by the lake at his old training ground, taking in the natural beauty of the scene. There was s slight breeze at night, and Naruto was enjoying how immersed he felt within the wind.

He was feeling pretty good. While he still longed, and worried for his friends back in Konoha, he was concentrating more on what he had here. He was making progress, and with some luck, he wouldn't have to abandon any of his friends.

He perked suddenly, glancing back. "You know, I was wondering when you would talk to me alone."

The figure from behind him approached until it stood shoulder to shoulder with him. It was Katsumi.

"I felt this would be the more appropriate time," She said lightly, glancing towards the full moon.

Naruto nodded. "So, what's up?"

"Nothing," She said, wrapping her arm around him hesitantly.

"I...I really missed you, you know?"

Naruto wrapped his right arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.

"Did you now?"

She nodded.

"Yes. If you leave again without taking me with you, I will personally hunt you down, drag you back, beat you up, heal you, then let you go wherever you were going with me on your back. Understood?"

Naruto gulped.

"Ehehe. Of course."

**'You are so fucking whipped,' **Kyuubi's amused voice came from his mind.

'...What?'

**'And you with your primitive brain capacity don't even begin to understand it.'**

'Right. Whatever,' Naruto told him, not quite understanding. What did he mean he was 'whipped'? As far as he was concerned, Katsumi wasn't even close to liking him.

Right?

* * *

Naruto walked into the guild building at early morning, arriving just in time to see Romeo running off with tears in his eyes, Natsu getting up and walking out with determination that Naruto had not seen on him for a long time, and the new girl, Lucy, yelling his name as she struggled to catch up.

Naruto blinked, then shrugged. Whatever it was, Natsu could deal with it. The new girl should be fine as well. She was a **Stellar Spirit Mage**, and if they were anything like summons, it meant that they were strong. Atleast, he hoped they were.

He sighed forlornly at the thought of summons. He missed Gamakichi and Gamatatsu. And Ma and Pa. And Gamabunta as well. After Jiraiya's passing, they had taught him **Sage Mode**, becoming almost like another family to him. 'Kichi and 'Tatsu were his brothers, Ma and Pa were his grandparents, and Gamabunta was...

'Nah,' Naruto decided. 'I'll just keep him as the Toad Boss.'

He walked over to Mirajane, who was busy cleaning the dishes, and Makarov, who was sitting at the bar, drinking a beer and looking oddly serious.

"What's up?"

Mirajane blinked in surprise as he arrived, then glanced towards the door. "Macao has gone missing. He took a job about a week ago to exterminate a tribe of Vulcans. He should've been finished long before now."

Naruto blinked. Now that was surprising. He didn't know Macao all that well, but he knew that he was a powerful mage in his own right, and wouldn't of been taken out that easily.

"And I'm guessing that Natsu saw Romeo crying about it and decided that he would save Macao?"

Makarov grunted. "Pretty much. These brats of mine are so troublesome."

He turned to Naruto. "Anyway, what are you going to do now? Go after them?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah. No need. I'll just stick around for awhile, catch up with everyone. I bet you guys that Natsu will be back with Macao in five hours."

Makarov grinned. "Haha! Now you're talking! Ten thousand Jewels on it taking six hours."

* * *

**Five Hours Later:**

"Haha old man, pay up!" Naruto's jolly voice rang out as Natsu walked into the guild, Macao on his back, and Lucy dragging herself behind him.

Makarov grumbled, throwing him the money, and an insult as a tip.

"Cheeky brat."

Naruto grinned. "Well then you shouldn't have doubted Natsu's strength and bet so much as well."

He must've said it a bit too loud as Natsu appeared beside them immediately, yelling at Makarov.

"Old man, you doubted me?!"

Makarov waved his hands about, glaring at Naruto momentarily, who was grinning madly, before turning back to Natsu.

"Not at all. I just thought you would take longer to get there is all."

"Oh okay," Natsu said simply, going away to fight with Grey. Naruto simply grinned wider at Makarov, causing him to grumble.

Makarov settled down suddenly, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket, sliding it over to Naruto, who picked it up, reading it curiously.

His eyes widened.

"This is?"

"All true," Makarov said, uncharacteristically serious.

Naruto glanced at the paper again, checking again. The job that was written on the paper was, well, important, so to speak. Not to mention it wasn't quite the usual job. Hell, Naruto didn't believe the Council would even order this. They usually weren't so forward.

"A small squad of S-class mages, huh? To form an entirely separate Guild dedication to the annihilation of the Balam Alliance."

Makarov nodded gravely. "Yes. I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but the Balam Alliance as been getting into very serious activities."

Naruto tilted his head, urging Makarov to continue. He wanted to know what exactly was going on. Was it really so serious that the Council actively involved themselves?

Makarov drew a triangle on the table using magic. He scribbled in quick names at each vertex of the triangle.

Naruto squinted to read what was written.

_Oracion Seis_

_Tartarus_

_Grimoire Heart_

"As you know," Makarov began, indicating to each name. "These three allies make the centre part of what is known as the Balam Alliance. Out of these three, only the Dark Guild Tartarus has a strong army beneath their heavy hitters. Grimoire Heart also has underlings, but they are not of significant strength. Merely in numbers do you have to worry about them, as our spies have determined. Oracion Seis is a small, but powerful guild with six S-class mages, and the leader. You wit me?"

Naruto nodded.

"And as you know, they have other Dark Guilds which have joined them," Makarov said, drawing in lines spiralling from various points in the triangle of varying length.

"These Dark Guilds have some significant members, but many are, for a lack of better term, cannon fodder. The Balam Alliance, in all its entirety, still doesn't have enough raw manpower to oppose the Magic Council and all the Light Guilds in Fiore. As such, they are raising an army."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't get it. Even if they are raising an army, it would take them awhile before they can train any real heavy hitters. So wouldn't it all just be cannon fodder?"

"Normally, yes, that would be the case. however, they are not training an army. They are raising one. And one that is not human." Makarov closed his eyes.

"They're raising demons."

Naruto's eyes widened, flashing back to his fight with Go'grosh.

**_However, you will have delayed the plans of the one who summoned us if you kill us_ **

Demons...He had fought the demons rather easily, but the fact that it had been going on since that moment worried him. At the time, it was only one tribe. That was months ago. Who knows how many they would have raised by now? Naruto was no fool. Being a ninja, while a rather empathetic one, he atleast knew people died in battle. He had experienced it a few times on his missions, and was no stranger to fighting. What he worried about was the younger mages, the ones who knew little of what war actually was.

A war was what this land needed least right now. It didn't need destruction wrought upon it. Just creation.

Makarov didn't have to ask again. Naruto merely nodded, and all his thoughts and feelings were conveyed to the old veteran mage.

He would fight. He would end the war before it began.

...Dattebayo.

* * *

The air was illuminated by bright flashes of light, as the sound of metal striking fiercely against metal was heard. It was late afternoon, but the sun was burning across the land, giving heat to all. The sky was clear, with naught a cloud in sight.

Two figures could be seen fighting each other, but were mere blurs of light and sound, invisible to the untrained eye. The only evidence of their existence was various bursts of flame that would erupt at random intervals, the fierce howling winds that followed, and the sound of clashing blades.

Naruto grinned wildly as he dodged another quick strike from Katsumi and her flaming blade, counterattacking with a forward thrust from Kitetsu, which was promptly blocked by her. That was rather annoying. Her defence had certainly grown much better, along with her speed.

Seeing a burst of red, hot flame coming his way, Naruto quickly moulded wind chakra around Kitetsu, slashing upwards through the flames. However, he was forced to hastily jump up as Katsumi swung her sword low, attempting to cut him.

"Ha! Almost got me, Katsumi-chan! But I'm too awesome for you!"

Katsumi narrowed her eyes at him, her lips beginning to form a light smile.

"Is that so?"

Fire burst from around Katsumi, swirling around her, and finally condensing into tight balls of densely concentrated magical energy. She drew her blade again, but in a much different stance. Her body was tilted slightly, her left arm in front of her face, and her right arm held out, stretching the sword across her back.

"Dodge this," She said grinning. With no more words, she disappeared, leaving the orbs floating in place. One by one, the orbs moved out, surrounding Naruto.

Naruto looked at them curiously as they did so. Oddly enough, he couldn't sense Katsumi at all. It was like she had completely left the area. But perhaps it was the orbs, interfering with his sensing ability. As they surrounded him, he noticed how slowly, his range of sensing shortened to inside the circle formed by them- roughly five metres in diameter.

Then, the orbs sent out bursts of fire from the sides, connecting, and forming a ring. A voice eerily called out.

**"Sacred Fire Magic: Circle of Flames!"**

The orbs suddenly erupted inward at blinding speeds, attempting to catch Naruto in the middle. However, he was too quick, and jumped up, is feet but an inch above the raging fires.

While in midair, Naruto could feel something was horribly wrong. He didn't know what, but something was wrong. His worried were answered a second later, when he suddenly brought Kitetsu down in a defensive arc to block a blade of flame that was thrusting his way.

The block was successful, but the blade exploded, knocking him back. He braced himself for being burned, but instead, he merely landed on the fire, and stayed as if it was normal ground.

"The hell?" He muttered to himself, testing the fire over and over. Yet it remained the same.

Then, suddenly, the fire disappeared altogether, causing Naruto to fall down. Due to his higher reflexes, he straightened out his legs and landed in a crouch. He looked up, sensing Katsumi finally, only to come face to face with a sword.

He chuckled lightly. "Well, looks like you win."

Katsumi didn't share his good humour, stabbing Naruto through the face, causing him to go up in a puff of smoke.

"One would think that you would know that I am well aware of your fondness of those clones and using them as duplicates," She said, glancing behind her towards the real Naruto, who stood with a kunai at her back.

"Hehe, I guess you're right," He said sheepishly. He then looked at her strangely.

"What?"

Naruto shook his head. "Just wondering exactly what that attack was?"

"One of the attacks that I developed over the course of the past year-" She paused, looking thoughtful. "-in preparation for the coming war we will face as part of the **ESS**, or the Elite S-Class Squadron."

Naruto blinked, shocked. Katsumi was joining too?

She seemed to have read his thoughts, and nodded. "Yes, I'm joining that one. As for the attack and how it works...Well, allow me to say that there is much more I can do with it. I only gave you a sampler of its abilities. No doubt, you would've broken free of course with some trick of your own."

Naruto just laughed.

* * *

Lucy was confused. Everyone seemed to look up to this Naruto guy for some reason. Sure, they still held much respect for the other known mages of Fairy Tail, but for some reason, they also really liked Naruto-san, who to her knowledge, was not in any papers or magazines, and therefore had no recognizable title.

She decided to ask Mira, who was beside her, working away. "Say, Mira-san?"

She continued working, humming slightly to acknowledge her, as if to say 'go on.'

"Well, I was just wondering, but who exactly is Naruto-san?"

Mirajane looked at her amused. "Well, he's a mage of Fairy Tail."

Lucy shook her head. "I know that. But everyone seems to like him, and I've never seen or heard of him in the papers. Is he that famous?"

Mirajane nodded once again. "When your an S-Class mage, you usually get very famous. And he does have a title."

Lucy stood up, wide eyed, slapping her hands on the table.

"Eh?! He's an S-Class mage?! Who is he?! What's his title?! C'mon, you have to tell me!"

Mirajane giggled softly at her antics, covering her mouth with her hand. Lucy was always so funny, in her opinion.

"Well, he comes and goes with the howling wind, so to speak," She told Lucy, hinting at his title.

Lucy's mouth went slack. Everyone knew that saying. It was associated with an uproarious S-Class mage who had popped up about a year ago. He was fairly average at the time, and still was, but as his accomplishments grew, people began to look at him as something more. Much like a symbol. They respected his power. Of course, Lucy had always thought he was over-rated. That people were blowing up his accomplishments unnecessarily, when mages such as the **Titania** and the **Salamander**, who had accomplishments of equal scale, were not given as much recognition.

Of course, she still thought he was pretty cool for a mage. His control over **Wind Magic**, mastered to a degree of perfection, powerful enough that people considered it a **Lost Magic**, rather than simple **Elemental Magic**. The saying created was to define how whenever he battled, it was as if the winds bent themselves to his will. As if the spirits and magic of the air howled in fury with him, battling alongside him. Not to mention that his battlefields were usually left in ruins. Scars in the ground, craters, upturned land- you name it.**  
**

But now, thinking of it all, Lucy never recalled any guild he was associated with. She smacked herself for not figuring it out with the clues.

Mirajane saw her mind go through these fifty different thought processes, and said it for her, confirming it.

"The world knows him as..."

"...the **Wind Shadow**."

* * *

**The End**

**So that's the chapter. Once again, pretty short, very fillerish. Just some background about what happened to Fairy Tail in the past year, but not too much. The whole S-Class Squad thing was pretty much on the fly. But it will be the main thing that leads the plot away from regular FT plot. Hopefully, we'll see more Dark Guilds being active earlier, etc etc. There will also be other things, as you know.**

**Also, tell me in your reviews as to which mages you want on the S-Class team and reasons as to why. It can theoretically be anyone, as long as you prove exactly why this person could be useful.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this. Once again, check my profile for updates on the chapters, and story progress. At times, it may not be updated right away, so keep watch.**

**And remember to review. It was a review from bloodyhound17 that caused me to push for that final homestretch in this chapter. Kudos to him. Thanks man.**

**HokagenoNaruto, out. **


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